Rising of a Guardian
by ItsYeBoiGuzma
Summary: After saving her brother and nearly dying in the process, Latias vows to make herself stronger. These efforts are suppressed by Latios in an attempt to keep her safe from further harm, forcing her to run away to take up an offer made by Ash four years ago. However, a normal journey to become stronger begins to unravel a plot that threatens to shift the balance of powers forever.
1. Prologue

**Rising of a Guardian - Prologue**

"Speech."

'Telepathy.'

_Thoughts._

* * *

Latias stared wide-eyed in absolute terror at the rapidly approaching wall of water. She had hoped that when the Soul Dew had broken, maybe, just maybe Father had stopped the wave the first time and it wouldn't come back. She had rushed out of the museum hoping it wouldn't be true, however, the answer was right in front of her. The massive wave barreling towards Altomare seemingly had enough force behind it to wipe the whole city off the map. Latias looked over at her brother next to her, battered and bruised from the reckless misuse of Altomare's Defense Mechanism.

She knew that the only thing that stood between the enormous wave of water and Altomare was her and her brother, but all she could think about was how useless she had been in the whole conflict. Ever since the beginning when the two thieves, Annie and Oakley, had attacked her she hadn't been able to fight back at all. The only reason she escaped their clutches was due to Ash saving her. Despite being alive for nearly a century she had never received any formal combat training.

Every situation Latias found herself in she had to run, hide, and find someone else to take care of the problem. When Latios had been captured, she had to fly off and look for Ash to help rescue him. It was not that she didn't want to, it was that she couldn't take care of the problem herself. And now, looking at everything that had happened and seeing the people she had promised to protect completely unaware of what was going on, she wanted to make a difference in this fight, she wanted to live up to the name of being the guardian of Altomare.

Latios flew up next to her and looked out at the incoming wave. "Are you alright, sister?" He asked, concern flowing through his voice.

"Yes… just." Latias couldn't put her thoughts into words, and now was not the time to talk about it. "Let's just put a stop to this wave and save Altomare, alright?"

He nodded. "We'll have to take it on together, stay next to me and try to draw as much psychic power as you can. I'm sure you can imagine what will happen if we fail."

The thought put knots in her stomach but she looked over and smiled, it was a fake smile but she hoped it would reassure him that everything would be alright.

He gave his sister a smile of his own, she was sure it was fake as well, but that didn't give her the confidence she so desperately needed. Before the twins shot off towards the wave all Latias could notice was how much pain he appeared to be in. If Latios took the brunt of the wave's force, he would most likely die and she knew he would do that. Latios was one to put his life on the line before others, even now with the certain chance that he will die.

Latias decided that this was her chance. This was her chance to prove to her brother and everyone else that she wasn't just a weak legendary that needed the help of everyone else to solve her problems. She would take the full force of the wave and save Altomare.

As the duo rushed off towards the wave Latias could already see her brother attempting to stay a little farther ahead of her. She could see him struggling to keep that pace as they continued onwards towards the wall of water. The wind rushed past their faces as they raced over the buildings of the unaware city. The wave began to encompass her entire field of view as they got closer and closer, deciding that now was the time she rushed past her brother towards the tsunami. Latios called out to her, begging her to come back, but she didn't listen and continued to fly faster.

_Come on, come on._ she thought as to urge herself to fly as fast as she possibly could. Surrounding herself with as much psychic energy as she could pull from within herself, along with her brother right behind her, she hit the wave and all of its power.

The resulting shockwave sent the twins flying in opposite directions as the wave exploded outwards. Latias was sent flying through the air, she could hear a ringing in her ears and her eyes blurred everything happening around her, but the one thing that stood out the most was the pain. It felt as though her nerves had exploded, her bones snapped, and pain flooding through parts of her body she wasn't even sure she had. The more pronounced area had been her left side, which felt as if it had been split open.

Latias' body began to lose its momentum and gravity took over. She couldn't slow her fall, all of her psychic energy had been used in the stopping of the wave, and she crashed into the street below. Her body hit the empty stone walkway below, she let out a cry of pain as it felt more of her bones snap. She bounced off the stones, going another few feet, before landing again sliding across the slick pavement. It began to rain, as the water from the wave fell back down to the Earth.

The world below was cold and uninviting. The empty road surrounded by shops and houses was only illuminated by a single street lamp. She shivered as the rain drizzled down on to her feathers.

Latias whimpered, she felt weak, in pain, her eyes threatening to slip into unconsciousness. But, she had to wait, she had to know if she succeeded in saving the city. The few minutes she waited were agonizing, at any moment she expected her curled up self to be whisked away by yet another wave, but it never came. She wanted to fall asleep, fall asleep and not wake for another week, but she faintly heard someone call out her name.

Attempting to pinpoint its source she looked around before spotting a blurry shape running towards her. She recognized the color of the outfit and realized that it was Ash. He ran over to her and crouched over her body and lifted her head up, he was saying something but Latias couldn't make it out. She looked up, at what she thought were his eyes, and smiled. She was happy, with the knowledge that everyone in Altomare was safe she closed her eyes.

_The pain right now seems almost bearable._ It seemed to fade away from her body before she slipped into unconsciousness.

**0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0**

Latias awoke with a startled gasp, she looked around, panicking before realizing she was in the Secret Garden. She leaned back and let out a sigh of relief, feeling the cool grass soothe her aching body. She recognized the trees, grass, walkways and the pond at the center of the garden, this was her home and so Altomare was safe. Her eyes scanned the garden, seeing no one, she attempted to lift herself off the ground but found it to be a daunting task.

After several attempts and several falls to the ground she started to levitate, it was quite wobbly but it would work.

_Where is everyone?_ she thought, floating through the garden.

She knew that nearly everyone was safe, but Latios had taken a portion of the force of the wave and she was worried if he had survived. Latias attempted to reach out through their psychic bond but all she was met with was a headache. Canceling it she shook her head. _If I survived the wave, he would have survived it as well,_ the thought reassuring herself.

A lot of the lingering pain from the night of the wave was beginning to return to Latias' body. She grimaced, feeling an intense pain in her left side she looked over and a shocked expression grew on her face. A massive gash cut deep into her flesh all down her left side, a scar had begun to form but it was still slightly exposed.

_That is probably going to live with me for the rest of my life._ she thought, still looking over the wound.

However, the more Latias thought of the scar, the more it gave her a sense of pride. She giggled to herself in the empty garden, it was a silly thought but it was almost like a trophy. She had done this, she had protected Altomare, she had saved her friends and her brother from certain destruction. It was a sign of her accomplishment and that, for all intents and purposes, she had proved to herself that she could guard Altomare. Granted, it was an uncontrolled burst of psychic energy that had completely drained her of her reserves, but that was beside the point.

Latias looked up at the darkening sky, seeing the stars shine down below onto her. She could feel the cool, calm air of her home as the last bit of the suns rays came West. "It's twilight." She realized.

It had been in the dead of the night when the two thieves had attacked. She began to recall a conversation she had with Ash that day, he had said that he had to leave the next day in order to continue his league journey.

"The… next day," she mumbled to her self. Her mind put all the pieces together and she realized: Ash had either already left, or he was leaving right now.

With no time to think, she quickly flew off into the quickly darkening sky. She roughly managed to keep her self from flipping or rolling over any time she made a slight adjustment to her flight. She flew around the outer edge of the city, high above all of the buildings, looking for the docks. She would try and say goodbye to Ash then.

"Just say goodbye to him, no funny business..." She told herself, a slight blush forming on her cheeks.

In truth, she had developed a slight crush on the boy after he had saved her from Annie and Oakley, and while it was due in part to him saving her, it was more due to the fact of his caring nature and personality. He helped protect her during the attempted kidnapping on her by the two thieves and helped come to the defense of Latios and the Soul Dew. More so, Ash didn't see Latias as a creature as most humans do, he saw her as an actual person. For Latias, who was just seen as a myth or a rare possession most of the time, this was a welcome sight.

Pushing those thoughts aside, she continued her search and eventually spotted Ash walking along the many now empty streets. She started the fly down towards him, she meant to stop just behind him but she lacked a lot of the finer controls over her psychic powers right now.

"Look out!" She cried out in a vain attempt to warn the oblivious trainer but it was too late. She crashed into him and while it wasn't a hard crash, it still sent the two of them tumbling to the ground. Ash yelped out of surprise about being tackled as Latias groaned out of pain on top of Ash.

Ash wore a look of surprise on his face. "Latias?" He questioned. "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be resting?"

She looked up as she realized the position the two of them were in. 'Sorry sorry sorry sorry,' she telepathed and floating off of him. She grabbed his hand and helped him to his feet and ignored the pain in her side as she spoke to him. 'Sorry, I was worried that I was going to miss saying goodbye to you.'

He smiled. "Well, you got lucky, we waited nearly a week for you to wake back up. Today was the final day that we could wait as I still have to beat my final gym and sign up for the league."

"A WEEK," She squawked in her normal voice, which just sounded like a normal pokemon call to Ash. She knew she had been hit bad, but for even her legendary healing powers to take that long it must have practically killed her. Which in all honesty, she wasn't too surprised by. 'Wait. You waited for me,' she asked, with interest in her voice.

"Well yeah. You did save all of us and Altomare, the least we could do is wait as long as we could for you to get better," he said, scratching the back of his head.

'T-thank you,' she stuttered with a blush forming on her cheeks.

"By the way, are you alright? Whenever I found you, you looked like you got hurt pretty bad and Latios refused to take you to a pokemon center for fear of anyone trying to catch you in your sleep." His eyes trailed over to the gash in her side.

Latias let out a sigh of relief, her brother was alright. 'I'm alright, I just took the full brunt of the wave.' Her eyes looked away, she started to feel the scar that was forming on her left side. Now faced with the prospect that her action may be considered foolish or selfish she was afraid of the next question.

"Why didn't you try and take it on together with Latios?" He asked with interest. Latias looked up at his face, seeing no scorn, only concern.

Taking a deep breath, she confessed, 'Whenever Team Rocket first attacked me I hadn't been able to do anything. When Latios had been captured I couldn't do anything. When we went to save Latios I couldn't do anything as I watched him being drained by the Defense Mechanism,' she looked away out of embarrassment. ' I wanted to prove that I wasn't just some useless legendary that couldn't stop one threat to her own city.'

Latias expected to be ridiculed, how could a legendary not even handle a couple of human thieves invading her own home? Instead, Ash wrapped her up in a warm embrace. At first, she was surprised by this action but gladly accepted it, putting her own arms around his back.

"You weren't useless Latias," He started. "You did everything that you could within your power and more to help take on those criminals. I didn't even know you had that much power to break apart that wave!"

She blushed when he said that and smiled sheepishly, she didn't really control her powers, she more just let them loose. 'Thank you,' she whispered in his mind, not used to this much praise.

"And if you need help training, you can come with me on my journey."

Latias did a double-take when she heard this. 'Go with you?' She asked. The idea seemed appealing, in the short time she had known Ash she had grown to trust him completely.

He gave her a smile and nodded. "Yep, you could come and compete in the league with me. It would be a lot of hard work, but we could train you to be the strongest legendary there ever was!"

The more Latias thought of it, the more the idea seemed better and better. 'But, I can't,' she said, coming to a realization. 'Bianca, Lorenzo, and Latios still live here and I can't abandon my duties as a guardian of Altomare.' She paused for a second, her face contorting in thought, but quickly picked back up what she was saying. 'But I'll train here, I'm going to be the strongest pokemon you've ever seen! When you come back I'll take on your whole team,' She finished, beaming with optimism.

"That's the spirit," Ash said, his look mirroring her own. He separated from their hug and gave her a thumbs up.

"Ash," a female voice called from around the corner. They looked to their left and saw Misty impatiently tapping her foot on the ground. "We are going to leave you here if you don't hurry it up right now."

Ash chuckled sheepishly. "Heh, sorry, I'll be right over!"

Before rounding the corner, Misty gave Latias a small wave which Latias returned with a wave of her claw.

Latias hadn't grown as close with the other members of Ash's group but she still considered them good friends.

Ash turned and faced Latias. "Well, I guess this is goodbye." He said, giving her a small smile.

She gave him a small smile of her own in return. 'I guess it is.'

Before Ash ran off he gave Latias another hug which she once again gladly accepted. She didn't want him to leave, he was one of the few friends that she made here outside of Latios and Bianca's family. But, she knew that she couldn't keep him from his journey, it was his way of proving himself just like protecting Altomare was her way of proving herself.

He let go of the hug and started to run off. 'Goodbye,' she called out to him with a wave of her claw.

Ash turned around, waved his arm and let out a goodbye of his own before disappearing around the corner.

As Latias floated alone there she knew she would get stronger, she would prove to everyone that her stopping the wave was not a one-time thing. She would take on as many waves as need be in order to prove herself. She started to fly off but before she could she heard someone call her name.

"Latias, what are you doing here?" Latios scolded. "You know better than to sit out in the open like this."

She smirked and turned around to face her brother's invisible form. "Relax, no one is out here and besides I had to say goodbye to Ash."

"You need to rest, you were hit by a massive wall of water and managed to put off enough psychic power in that one blast to create your own Soul Dew."

"What!" This was the third surprise of the night. _I guess this is what happens when you are out for a week._

He nodded, his expression softening. "It was quite the show, however, you shouldn't have gone ahead. You nearly got yourself killed in the process; it took all of the healing tricks that I could pull out in order to save you.

She looked away in shame, he wasn't wrong, but she turned back to face him. "So you could just charge out ahead and die? I saw you trying to get ahead of me and take all the force of the wave. You were too weak to take it and if I didn't do it you probably wouldn't be here right now!" All she wanted to do was help and now he was scolding her?

"Whenever we hatched and we were left alone I made a promise to protect and raise you, sister," Latios growled, his voice lowering. "When we learned of our duty to protect the Soul Dew I made the decision to take up that mantel so that you wouldn't have to worry about it. I wanted you to live a carefree life so that you wouldn't have to worry about all of this."

Latias frowned as a look of irritation came across her face. "Did you ever think to ask me though? I am a guardian of Altomare, what good am I as a guardian if I cannot protect the people I am meant to protect," she asked. "I want to help you but I don't feel like I can do anything if I can't fight. I need training if I'm going to be a protector of Altomare." She appreciated his concern, but this wasn't his burden to bear alone.

"The whole point of this was so that you wouldn't get involved and get yourself hurt," he retorted. He genuinely cared for his sister and believed that this was the best for her.

Latias however, disagreed. "And you saw how well that did for us that day."

Latios was now unable to look her in the eyes. "We'll see about getting you some training, now do you have anything else that you need to do before you head back?" He looked back into her eyes. "Need to give your boyfriend a goodbye kiss," he teased with a smirk growing on his face.

Latias squeaked. "N-no, it's not like that at all," she protested, shaking her head and claws. She wasn't in love with the boy, it was just a small crush. _Why did everyone have to jump to that conclusion? _

Then she remembered something. "I have to get something, quick!" She turned invisible and flew off, which wasn't that fast considering her weakened state.

Latios quickly caught up to her and flew alongside her. "And if I may ask, just what are you getting," he asked with a slight annoyance in his voice.

Latias didn't answer him as they flew past buildings and through the canals of Altomare. It felt good to fly through the waters of the city after a week of being asleep, she got to "stretch" her psychic powers and get used to moving around again now that she had fully awakened.

Speeding around several corners she rushed into the entrance of the Secret Garden. Carefully selecting one of the trees with a hole she picked out a folded piece of paper in her claws and shot past Latios, earning a startled "hey" in response.

Rushing through the all the same alleyways and canals She arrived at the docks where she saw Ash just now saying goodbye to Bianca and Lorenzo, and Brock, Misty, and Pikachu already on the boat. Quickly ducking into a nearby alleyway she shifted into her "human form." It was always strange changing into this form, especially after staying in her true form for so long. Latias didn't really know how to exactly to describe it, it felt like as if she was constricting her body to be the human shape even if it was only an illusion. It didn't hurt or feel uncomfortable, but it certainly didn't feel right being in this form.

She ran past Bianca and Lorenzo, ignoring the questions of how she was awake right now and went down the steps towards the dock. The moon reflected brilliantly off the water as she ran up behind him. Ash, hearing her footfalls, turned around and came face to face with her. She stopped a few feet in front of Ash before handing the folded piece of paper to him. On that paper was a picture of him, she had worked hard on it and hoped it would be one little extra thing for him to remember her by.

She had promised no funny business but she couldn't resist the confusion on his face.

"Wow, did you dra-," Latias interrupted him with a quick peck on his cheek before running off. He gave her a dumbfounded look, not really understanding what just happened. "Who?"

Latias turned around and gave him a wink 'You know who.' she whispered in his mind before turning around and running off again. She walked up the stairs, leaving a very dense and perplexed Ash and his shocked friends behind. Bianca, Lorenzo, and Latios were all standing there with a smirk on their faces.

'So, it's not like that at all,' Latios teased as the trio's smirks grew.

'I-it isn't,' she denied with a bright red blush as she had completely forgotten they were right behind her. 'I-I just had to say goodbye to him.'

Bianca wrapped an arm around her "twin's" shoulder with a smirk still on her face. "I'm sure it was just a goodbye, though he seemed very confused by it."

Her family burst out laughing as Latias' whole face seemed to glow red. The laughter started to slow down as Latias hung her head down in embarrassment.

Lorenzo was the first to stop. "By the way, how are you feeling," he asked with concern. "Latios told us of what you did."

The red dragoness looked over at him. 'I'm feeling great,' she answered as she winced from a sharp bite of pain that got her. While her scar may have been a source of pride for her that didn't mean it doesn't hurt.

"Come on." Lorenzo motioned with his hand. "You've done more work than you've ever done that night, you should get some rest." Bianca and Latios nodded in agreement with him.

The trip back to the Secret Garden was short and uneventful. No one said a word as they were exhausted from the events of a week ago and decided to save it for tomorrow. Latias had been tired as it was the first time she had woken up since her injury. The others were tired due to them worrying about her well being so much. When they arrived at the entrance to the Latis' hidden home Bianca and Lorenzo waved goodbye and said goodnight as they headed home.

Latias dropped her human disguise as soon as they entered in through the illusion while Latios dropped his invisibility.

Latios turned to her. "Go off and sleep, you're going to need it." He moved towards a tree before Latias stopped him.

"Wait," she called out. "Can I... uh... see the new Soul Dew?" Latias tried to briefly look around for the newly made gem but she couldn't spot it. In fact, she couldn't even sense what she assumed would be a massive amount of power.

Latios sighed but motioned her over to the pond in the center. He had stayed up for days and used any power he got back to heal Latias' wounds which left him exhausted. He had simply wanted to head to bed but he supposed he could spare a few more minutes.

The twins moved to hover over the center of the pond while Latias looked around confused. The jewel wasn't in its normal place and they were simply floating in empty air, there simply wasn't anything there. Before Latias could ask why he had brought them to that exact point Latios' eyes glowed blue, a sign of him using his psychic powers, and a bright light started to shine in the middle of the air. The light continued to shine even brighter before it started to fade and revealed a bright, blood-red sphere about the size of a human fist.

Latios caught the gem in his claws. "I made some extra precautions in case anyone else found out about the Secret Garden. We don't want them just walking in here and taking the Soul Dew."

Latias gently took the Soul Dew from her brother's claws and looked down at it in curiosity. _So this is what I made,_ she thought to herself. The only difference in it was the color of the gem. It was a bright red unlike the cool blue of the previous Soul Dew. But, one question still remained. "So, what happened to father's soul then?" she asked. They had thought that it was their father's soul that had held off the wave, not the psychic energy put off to stop it.

Latios shrugged his shoulders. "I think father's soul might have been attracted to the amount of energy you put off and fused it together to form another Soul Dew. If that's the case then we have him to thank for Altomare not being underwater right now." He took back the Soul Dew and a bright light appeared over it before disappearing along with the Soul Dew.

"Well, if that's all you are going to need I am going to rest. Taking care of you was a clawfull," He joked with a smile on his face.

Latias stuck her tongue out as he chuckled. He leaned over and nuzzled his face with her's before heading back over the same tree. Latias flew underneath a bridge with her own little nest before landing in it and curling up. While some of her friends may be gone, she now had a new calling: to grow stronger. With the events from a week ago, she had now come to realize the dangers truly presented towards Altomare. She hadn't taken it seriously, but there are people out there that will steal her, her brother, or the Soul Dew for their own personal gain. She was weak, but there was a power within the dragoness that could be unleashed with enough training.

Latias smiled as she closed her eyes. Tomorrow would be another day, another day to become the guardian she was meant to be.

* * *

**Thanks for clicking on this and giving it a read.**

**I started this story mainly cause I see a lot of uncompleted fics out there with a lot of good and interesting concepts. My hope is to finish this story and deliver a quality product, which totally won't come back to bite me in the ass. I'm only really planning to stop this if: A) I die, B) I lose complete and total interest or, C) my personal life starts to suffer due to writing this.**

**The main point of the prologue was to set up the differences in this world's version of m05 vs. what actually happened. My details might be a bit mixed up here and there seeing as how I haven't seen the movie in a while.**

**I would like to give some shoutouts to a couple of people that inspired me to write whether knowingly or unknowingly:**

**Totem-Mimikyu: He's a nice, chill dude to talk to and he helped to encourage me. His story was the final push for me to really consider writing. You can check it out, it's called ****_Darkness Descending_****. I'm also pretty active on his discord server, you can go to his profile for details.**

**Mystical87: He is a good friend that has also helped to encourage me to write. He has his own story that he is writing called ****_The Long Journey_****.**

**Syrup Waffle: While a lot of stories made me consider to write, his was the first to really make me start thinking about it. I think it's the best long, completed Altoshipping story out there. It's called ****_When Fate Comes Knocking_****.**

**I'd love any support or criticism in the reviews. Goodbye.**


	2. Departure

**Rising of a Guardian - Departure**

"Speech."

'Telepathy.'

_'Thoughts.'_

* * *

Latias awoke to a cold sweat, her feathers being ruffled as she had been tossing and turning in her sleep. Groaning, she laid back down to stare back at the underside of her bridge. She had once again awakened from another nightmare, just like the many she had witnessed since the events of four years ago.

_Has it really been four years?_ She reflected back with a sigh. Turning her head to the right she saw that the suns rays were peaking over the East wall of the Secret Garden, teasing its morning light. The red and white dragoness picked herself out of her nest and began to do her morning routine. She started to float over to an oran berry tree and picked out specific ripe berries with the knowledge that only a master planter would know.

Her nightmare had been one of her least favorite ones, a dream about a pack of Ariados and Spinark devouring her body whole and leaving nothing left. Ever since the conflict for the souldew, she had many recurring dreams that would happen almost every week: her brother dying, she would fail to stop the wave, Bianca or Lorenzo would be fatally injured, being psychically overpowered by an Espeon or the aforementioned Ariados nightmare.

Shivering at the thought of it, Latias pushed the memory aside. She had believed that the nightmares would stop, but it was no use, they would just keep coming and it all boiled down to one thing: she had not trained in the last four years.

She had wanted to, oh she had wanted to but no matter what she did, what attempts she made they would all get shut down by her brother, Latios. The next morning after she had awoken from her injury she asked for training; to which he declined. She accepted it at first, she had just been on the verge of death and was still recovering from her injury. But soon, days went by, weeks went by, the scar healed over and she continuously asked for training and each and every time he had shut her down.

She eventually decided that she would train herself, she would watch Latios' own training and attempt to replicate it herself. However, he soon caught on to this and in a very disapproving voice told her to knock it off. With Bianca's help, she had attempted to buy any books that could help train her in her psychic prowess and draconic powers. This would go on for a few days, but they would go "missing" without any explanation.

All in all, Latias was still the same legendary that she was four years ago. She had made no progress on the promise she had made to Ash.

Finishing the batch of oran berries that she had collected she looked up at her brother's form sleeping in a tree. He had just gotten back from the night patrol and would not wake up till at least midday. While she loathed her brother's decision to shield her from the rest of the world, she understood why he did the things he did. The night the souldew was destroyed he had nearly lost everything that he had cared for so near and dear for almost a century.

And, when the one thing he had come the closest to losing came up to him and said that she was willing to put herself in harm's way again, he couldn't handle it. He trained her in stealth, evasion, and speed in order to discourage her from doing any heroics. Latios believed that if he could train her to simply run away from everything she couldn't be harmed.

Grumbling, Latias reached down towards her scar and traced it down as far as her claw could go. Her injury had left a very noticeable mark on her frame, it started on the left side of her body at the base of her neck, ran a straight line down her torso and curved up to end near her left jet-like protrusion. Her small, almost invisible feathers only covered the healed wound so much, leaving the scar tissue slightly exposed. It left a very blatant image of what had happened that night for anyone to see, including her brother.

The eon duo both saw the scar in a very different way, on one claw, it was a source of Latias' pride and her accomplishments, on the other, it was a sign of what Latios had almost lost. No matter when he saw her his eyes would move towards her scar and leave a vivid image of what had almost happened to his sister.

Latios didn't rule with an iron claw per se, Latias still had free reign to do what she wanted as long as it was in the limits of Altomare's waters and it didn't involve training.

_But today, today that was all going to change._ the red dragoness thought happily to herself. Heading over to the edge of the exit from Secret Garden she turned back to make sure her brother was still asleep.

"Goodbye, brother," she whispered more to herself if anything. Turning invisible she floated out of her secret home. Flying over to the docks, she recalled the planning that had occurred several months prior.

**0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0**

Bianca and Latias in her human form were sitting outside of a coffee shop when the legendary had told the human girl of her plans. They talked mainly through telepathy so it didn't look like Bianca wasn't having a one-sided conversation with a mute friend. Though, sometimes it did seem strange seeing the two of them make different facial expressions without saying a single word.

'So, you are wanting to leave Altomare because your brother has been blocking you from receiving or doing any training,' Bianca asked, a curious expression on her face. Her legs were crossed as she leaned forward towards the disguised pokemon, forgetting the drink that sat in front of her.

Latias' human form had been given a couple of tweaks to its appearance, Bianca was starting to get annoyed seeing an exact carbon copy of her running around the city. The face had been changed slightly, along with her hair being a brighter red and a redshirt replacing the normally green one. She also stood one or two inches higher than the original.

Latias gave a polite nod in response. She had thought of doing this for a couple of weeks now, but she needed an accomplice in her plans.

'And in order to do this, you are wanting to track down Ash, someone who seems to always be on the move, and ask him if his offer of training you still stands from four years ago?' Bianca's face didn't try to hide the disbelief that she had. Latias had come up with a lot of insane ideas over the years she had known her, but this one was a contender for first place.

'Well, when you put it that way yes,' Latias said as she tried to hide the nervous expression on her face. 'But, it wouldn't be that hard to track him down. If we watch the league rosters and wait for Ash to be in one once it ends I could meet him in Pallet Town.' She had been following Ash's progress through the leagues that he participated in. She kept it a secret from everyone else, due mostly to avoid any teasing about her supposed crush on Ash.

'But why Ash of all people?' Bianca smirked. 'You know Latias if you wanted to be with him so bad all you had to do was tell me, you didn't need to come up with this big elaborate excuse,' she teased.

'Don't joke about this Bianca,' she retorted, attempting to fight back the blush that was slowly creeping its way on to her face. 'I want… I need to go with Ash.' She said this with as much seriousness as she could put into her voice.

The woman dropped the smirk. 'Yes, I know that you need to go with Ash but why? There are plenty of elite dragon and psychic trainers out there. I heard the champion in Kanto is a dragon master, he could help you train."

'But could he truly promise not to try and abuse my power? Ash is the only person that I would trust with myself. He sees me beyond being some legendary beast and sees me as an actual person.' It was the one thing she could ever want from a trainer, not to be seen as a tool for power but to be seen as someone who needs help.

Bianca sighed, she stirred the ice in her glass with a straw in thought. She could respect Latias' decision and willingness to go through with it, but even then several things had to go right. First of all, Latias would have to find Ash, then he would have to agree to train her, and if he accepted she would have to avoid her brother to keep him from bringing her back. Speaking of Latias' twin.

'How are you going to keep Latios off your tail. You know the moment he finds out your gone he is going to leave as soon as possible to bring you back.' Bianca knew that Latios was most definitely stronger than Latias. If he found her he could very easily drag her back home.

'I have a few ways of hiding our bond and making it seem like it is still here in Altomare,' Latias replied with a hint of pride.

Latias couldn't separate a psychic bond, no one could, but you could mask one. She would have to hide her bond until she got far enough away from the city of water where its effects would start to decrease. Next, she would place a decoy signal that was almost exactly like her psychic reading in Altomare. She couldn't keep it up for a long time, only about a day, but it would give her enough time to fly away so Latios couldn't accurately track her. She had practiced this trick several times already, she would place it and Latios would go to it to say hi. She wouldn't be there so he would go looking for her and eventually find her sleeping in Lorenzo's house, she came up with the excuse that she had just wanted to sleep in.

'How long have you been thinking about this,' Bianca questioned as she silently paid the waiter for their drinks.

'A few weeks, I needed to make sure I had everything in order before I brought the idea up to you. I didn't want you to join in on my plan without knowing all the details of it.' Latias wanted everything to go perfectly, if one thing went wrong or if Latios found out she may never have a chance at this again. 'By the way, I'm going to need your help,' she added quickly with a smile.

Bianca rolled her eyes, of course the dragoness would nearly forget something. She was smart but sometimes she thought a little too hasty for her own good.

Already sensing the question of what her role would be the psychic type answered it for her. 'You are going to need to tell Latios and Lorenzo that I've left. Of course not where I have gone, but just tell them I'm away so they don't freak out. I don't want a situation where Latios tells a bunch of legendaries that I was kidnapped and they all try to go and kill Ash.' Latias giggled at the thought of her defending Ash against a horde of legendaries all trying to rescue her from her "captor."

Bianca giggled as well. 'Well I think it would be best if we don't let that happen so, sure I'll help you on this little mission of yours.'

'You will,' Latias asked, she thought she may have had to do a little more convincing to get Bianca on board with the idea.

'Yeah I will, don't worry about it,' she said with a wave of her hand. She motioned for the two of them to leave and the duo started walking down the streets back to Lorenzo's house. It was a lot more crowded than normal as tourist season was beginning to ramp up.

'Thank you, it really means a lot to me.' Latias was half afraid that she would go tell Latios if she thought her plan wouldn't work, but at the same time, she knew she could trust the human.

'However, you do know of the consequences of what will happen when you leave,' Bianca asked as she looked into the dragoness' golden eyes.

Latias avoided her gaze and simply nodded her head.

The artist continued to press the issue. 'You will be leaving me, Lorenzo and Latios if you decide to go on this journey. And, if you decide to bail out early you will not have another chance at doing this.'

'Yes,' Latias whispered in her mind. It was a more sad whisper if anything. She wanted to go on this journey but, everything that she had known for her whole life was in Altomare, the city she would be leaving.

'You will also be leaving Altomare with one less guardian, are you sure you want to put that upon your brother?' Bianca wanted to make sure that Latias was one-hundred percent on board with the idea. If Latias had any regrets or second thoughts this would all be for nothing.

The guardian perked up, this was an issue she could fight. 'Altomare will have the same number of guardians when I leave. I don't have any combat experience and can't do much to protect it. I need to go on this journey so that I may grow stronger to help Altomare.' Bianca said nothing after that.

The two friends continued walking until they arrived at Lorenzo's house. It was a two-story building with the same artistic and connected design that was on all the other buildings in Altomare. Walking through the front door, the red dragoness shed her disguise in a flash of light, reappearing as her true self. When the museum caretaker's home had been built it was built with the idea that the twins could move around easily inside. The doorways were wider than normal, with fewer rooms but more space. However, the plans didn't account for the Latis to grow, so she could just barely fit through many of the doorways.

She turned around with a bright look on her face. 'Any more questions,' she asked with a cheery attitude.

Bianca shook her head. While at first, she had her doubts, but now she fully believed that her friend could do what she set herself out to do. Inside the legendary, she had seen a fiery passion that she had not seen in a long time.

_'Besides, maybe Latias will finally admit to herself that she likes Ash,'_ she thought privately to herself. As much as Latias denied it, Bianca had convinced herself that there was more going on then what she put on.

Latias gave her a quick nuzzle in thanks before speeding out the door.

**0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0**

Latias smiled, today was the day that she would be taking on her journey. She had waited months, flipping through all the different pokemon leagues and competitions' list of trainers before she found out he was participating in Unova. The conference had ended a week ago, while Latias had given time to wait, today was the day to go. After years of wanting to train and become the strongest pokemon she could be, she was finally going to get that chance. But, she had one last thing to do before she left.

Invisible, Latias floated up to the entrance of Lorenzo's house and knocked on the door. The owner opened the door, seeing no one, he stood aside and held the door wide open. The invisible legendary entered through the door, shedding her invisibility as the old man closed the door.

"Latias, my girl, how are you," Lorenzo asked, walking over towards her.

"I'm good, thank you," Latias replied. She turned her head and looked around the house. "Have you seen Bianca this morning?"

"Yes, she left just a few minutes before you arrived. It was a lot earlier than when she normally wakes up."

Latias sighed. _'Looks like I'm going to have to keep this brief,'_ she thought. The jet-like pokemon had wanted to catch Bianca and walk to the dock with her, but she had been too late. She looked up at Lorenzo, twidling her claws. 'Can I ask you a question? Like, a serious question.'

He nodded in response. It was a little strange that Latias was coming to him with this sort of thing, while they were close, this sort of thing was normally reserved for her brother or Bianca. The caretaker simply didn't have enough time on his hands to have the same relationship he once had with her.

'You will support me in any decision I make, right?'

"Well, unless you are trying to sink Altomare, then I don't have much to fight against," he said with a hearty laugh. "What's got you troubled."

'I can't explain yet,' she said cryptically. While she did trust Lorenzo, his ideas often lined up with Latios', he wouldn't want her leaving the city without another guardian. 'I just need to know if you will stand by my side, even if Latios doesn't agree with it.'

A deep look grew on the bearded man's face, he now knew why she was being mysterious but not the exact reason. He had always trusted Latias, she always was compassionate, kind, and considerate, never would she not have Altomare's best interest at heart. "Yes, I will." Lorenzo had come to a decision.

'Thank you. You'll understand in due time, I promise.' Latias hated keeping secrets, but right now she had to. She turned to leave through the door. 'Goodbye Lorenzo, and thanks.'

He waved goodbye as she turned invisible and headed out the door. She had to see Lorenzo one last time. While they weren't as close when he was younger she still held a great deal of respect for the elder. He had helped guide both her and her brother during their earlier years in life and protected them from as many threats as he could. While he aged, the twins hadn't much, she hated keeping it a secret from him as her time with him was limited.

Latias flew through all the different streets and canals of Altomare. She knew them like the back of her paw, she knew where each store was, each restaurant, each turn, each house. She could quickly and easily identify any point in Altomare due to almost a century of patrolling its waters. it would be another bit of familiarity she would miss with her departure. Latias arrived at the docks and stayed there.

All the red dragoness had to do was wait for Bianca to come and say goodbye.

She dropped her invisibility at the edge of the dock, no one was around and she was too giddy to stay cloaked. It was exciting, as it would be the red dragoness' first time leaving Altomare's safe harbor and into the unknown stretches of the world. Out there, towards the glowing sunrise, she hoped to grow stronger and come back to Altomare and officially give the city its second guardian.

Hearing footfalls on the wooden dock she already knew who it was. Turning around and giving Bianca a smile as she stood there with a map in her hands.

"Sorry I was late, it was a little early even for me." She rubbed her eyes, they had dark circles underneath them as she was clearly still tired. Letting out a yawn she handed Latias a map of Kanto and pointed to a small town that was nearly in the center of the map. "That's Pallet Town, that's where you'll find your Ash."

Latias nodded, ignoring the "your Ash" part of her sentence. It was nerve-racking that she was actually doing this. She had the feeling of her stomach being void of anything, but she was ready for this.

The artist put her hands on her hips and put on a grin. "Look at you being all grown up now!"

Latias turned and gave her a confused look. 'What do you mean "All grown up" I am nearly five times your age!'

"And yet you are just now going out on your journey to discover yourself now, aren't you?"

Latias blushed, she was right, it was only now that she was truly pursuing what she wanted. Latias had tried out other activities but none of it ever seemed to stick, being a guardian was only really a side job. But now, after the crisis had befallen the city she was meant to protect, she had taken it upon her duty to become a guardian of Altomare. _'Only a hundred years later do I figure it out,'_ she thought bitterly to herself. Bianca had chosen the dream of being a painter early on in her life and stuck with it to this day as humans didn't have the advantage of waiting as long as they wanted to choose their dreams.

Tears started to form on the edges of Bianca's tired eyes before she reached her arms around Latias' neck and brought her into a hug. "I'm going to miss you," she whispered into her ears as tears started to fall down her cheeks.

Latias gave the girl a sad smile as tears formed on the edge of her vision. 'I'll be back someday, don't forget that,' Latias said, nuzzling the girl's cheek with her own. The dragoness' cheek wiped Bianca's tears off with her own face.

They stayed like that for a minute. Latias was Bianca's childhood friend, while Bianca was Latias' first real friend outside of Lorenzo and Latios. They had a special bond with one another that was shared over years of friendship, it would be near impossible to break that bond between the two.

Bianca let go of the hug and wiped the tears away from her eyes, she was sad but she was also happy for Latias. "I won't slow you down. You should probably get going, you'll want to put as much distance between yourself and Altomare." But the uncertainty in her voice betrayed her.

The legendary gave her friend a reassuring smile. 'I've got some time to spare, Latios is a little slow in getting up anyway. I'll stay a little longer if you need me to.' Latias knew this would be hard for her friend, and that it was going to be hard for herself as well.

Bianca simply shook her head up and down. She walked over to the edge of the dock and sat down with her legs almost touching the water, her draconic friend levitated down to her level. The two looked out at the rising sun, it was starting to turn the sky from yellowish orange to a bright blue but they continued to wait. The sat in silence as small waves crashed into the seawall behind them, they wanted to savor the few final moments they would have together for a while.

"I remember when I first came to Altomare," Bianca said, breaking the silence. "My mom and dad weren't ever really around, they were always running about on cruise ships or exotic tours of faraway regions."

Latias had heard this story all before, but she let her continue.

"I hated it when I got dropped off at some old guy's place who was apparently my grandfather." She chuckled at the memory. "My parents said they would be back in a few weeks, saying they were going on an extended vacation."

The psychic type saw the tears coming and rubbed her paw up and down the artist's back in an attempt to comfort her.

Bianca gripped the edge of the dock. "They never came back." Her arms began to shake as if it was a struggle to hold herself up. "I was only five years old and I was stuck in an old place, with an old man, a bunch of old things, and the feeling that my parents abandoned me. But, it all changed one day." Bianca looked over and gave Latias a smile, which she returned. "You were there, you saw that I was sad and trying to bottle up my emotions. You helped me release those emotions, you helped me connect with my grandfather, you gave me a reason to see beyond everything in this city being old and to see the importance in it."

She stopped shaking, her grip on the dock loosening. "Latias, you were my friend when no one else was. You were the first person who truly cared about me and I have everything to thank you for. If you believe that saving me and this city means that you will have to leave then I will fully support that."

Latias pulled her into a hug, Bianca's face lay in the middle of her neck as the dragoness craned her head down to nuzzle the top of her head. 'Thank you,' she whispered as tears started to stain the legendary's neck. Slowly, Bianca's tears started to stop falling until they came to a stop. They stayed like that for several more moments as Bianca attempted to steady her breathing against the psychic type's neck.

Bianca closed her eyes, took in a deep breath, and let it out. "Ok, I'm ready." She separated from the hug and got up off the ground, giving Latias a smile she waved her hand back and forth slowly. "Goodbye, and good luck, Latias." Her voice still quivered a bit but the sadness was gone.

Latias flew up and nuzzled her one last time. 'Goodbye, and don't worry, I'll be back before you know it, alright?' She looked over at the girl's face, waiting for an answer.

"Alright." Her voice was now more firm as she recovered from the sob story.

Waving goodbye one last time, Latias shot off East towards the sunrise. She continually looked back, seeing Altomare grow smaller and smaller to her vision until it was just a speck on the horizon. For the first time in her life, she would be leaving the safety of her home, and it would be the beginning of a once long-awaited journey in the guardian's life.

* * *

**That's a wrap, thanks for reading Chapter 2**

**I tried hard for Latias to have an emotional connection to Altomare and the people living in it. I didn't want her to just up and at em leave without really feeling anything. I hope I managed to accomplish that task.**

**You can stalk me on Discord, all you have to do is join via the twitter page ADD_Mimikyu.**

**Be sure to leave a review of what you did like and or didn't like.**


	3. Invisible Rescue

Rising of a Guardian - Invisible Rescue

"Speech."

'Telepathy.'

'Thoughts.'

* * *

Ash Ketchum and his partner Pikachu were currently walking through the wide streets of Lumiose City. The trainer had only arrived in Kalos that morning and he was on to visit the local professor of the region, Professor Sycamore.

The beautiful Kalosian architecture surrounded them as they walked, with restaurants, cafes, shops, boutiques and whatever else you could name around every twist and turn. The interconnected buildings were arranged in such a way so that they were complex but not too complex to easily navigate. Hundreds of locals and tourists mingled around in the many different buildings as hundreds more roamed the streets looking for their next destination.

While the city had heavy modern influences it also had many different forms of nature: vines crawled up the stonework of many of the buildings, hedges and trees provided decoration to the otherwise gray roads, and fountains provided sparkling splashes of water. All of it led to one central area, Prism Tower, which Ash initially had gotten nauseous just looking at the top of it.

Ash would have gotten lost if he tried to pay attention to everything around him, but he was lost too deep in thought to care about any of it. He was thinking about his future, and what exactly going on this journey and chasing the title of pokemon master really meant.

The young trainer had never really been a deep thinker or an introspective type, he was always an act now think later type of person. However, after five years of being in his travels, he had now really taken a step back to think about it all. This was all due in part to his humbling yet humiliating loss at the Vertress Conference in Unova.

Unova was supposed to be the start of something great, he had just come right off the heels of the Lily of the Valley Conference in the top 4. The young man had beaten his bitter rival Paul and had only been taken down by a man that seemed like he had an entire team of legendaries. While he would be without any of his former traveling partners, Brock after nearly four years of traveling with his friend finally had to go back to Kanto and stay and Dawn continued to pursue her coordinating career, he was ready to take it on in full.

What he hadn't expected was that he had actually gotten worse during his journey in Unova, at least that's what he believed. Coming in the top eight at the Ventress Conference and losing to someone with only five pokemon instead of the usual six had felt like a slap in the face to him.

Ash scowled at the memory, his partner looked over at him atop his shoulder with a look of concern on his face. He was normally optimistic and not one to care too much about pride, but that one had shaken him to his very core.

Going on a pokemon journey was all about self-improvement and growing yourself as a person. And yes, he had done that, he had grown stronger, grown smarter, and grown more mature but, as a trainer, he felt like he had failed. After traveling through four different regions and coming so close each and every single time but after that failure, had it all been for nothing? After everything that he had done, his nondescript dream of being a pokemon master felt further away than ever before.

Ash went home just wondering what had gone wrong. Was it his fault? Did he not train hard enough, should he have taken better care of his pokemon, did he have a poor team composition, were his battle strategies lacking?

Or was it his pokemon's fault? Did they not train enough, did they not care about the league as much as he did, were they simply weaker built pokemon?

Ash shook those thoughts out of his head. 'It wasn't their fault, they tried their best and they gave their all, I shouldn't blame them.' Ash knew he couldn't blame his pokemon, they were his responsibility to train them up and grow so that they would be prepared for any situation.

Ash sighed, he should have given more time to rest before he had come to Kalos. Whenever he had arrived home from the Ventress Conference he had quickly stopped by Brock and Misty at Pewter and Cerulean City respectively, before spending about a week with his mother at Pallet Town. Hearing about Kalos, he believed that the best way to get things off his mind was to go on yet another journey. However, the worries kept coming back to haunt him.

Ash passed by a building that looked familiar to the one he had been told about, but he wasn't paying much attention to it. 'Perhaps a vacation would have been better.' Ash thought to himself, not realizing the excessive point and calls coming from Pikachu.

'Maybe Johto, the Orange Islands, the Lily of the Valley Island.' He continued to ramble in his head, ignoring the electric rodents cheeks starting to spark.

All the sudden a thought occurred to the pokemon trainer. 'What about Alt-.' He was rudely interrupted by an electric shock coursing through his nerves.

Ash collapsed onto the ground. Several passersby attempted to see if he was ok and if he needed any help. The trainer quickly leaped off the ground and told the small crowd that he was fine, being shocked by Pikachu over the years now only really… shocked him and didn't hurt as much as it used to.

As the crowd dissipated, giving several concerned looks back, Ash looked over at Pikachu who looked away in innocence. "What was that all about buddy," He genuinely didn't know why he did that, normally he had an idea.

"Pika pika," he responded, pointing over to a building that Ash now recognized as Professor Sycamore's lab. The large gated building seemed almost like an old mansion that had been converted into a pokemon lab.

"Wow, you found it! But, you know you didn't have to shock me in order for me to see it, you could have just told me." Ash said.

Pikachu rolled his eyes and pointed for him to go inside. Ash complied, walking over to the entrance of the lab and forgetting all about having a vacation.

**0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0**

Staying in Altomare had been the one rule Latias and her brother had always lived by. She never questioned its existence, only assuming it was due to them being the cities legendary guardians. But now, traveling outside the city's borders, her opinion had changed.

The world outside the city of water was massive! The ocean she had spent hours flying across seemed to stretch out never endingly in all directions. By the time she had reached the mainland, she couldn't see any end to the continent. The dragoness could go for miles across acres of forest, mountains, and plains but never see it stop.

Below she could see different species of pokemon that she had only read about in books before. She saw Abra, Ponyta, Tauros, Girafarig, and even an Onyx had burst out of the ground beneath her. Trying the navigate this area seemed impossible due to its sheer size, without flight she almost certainly would have gotten lost.

Her home city had been her entire world for all of her life, but now all it seemed to be was a small speck in a much larger more grandiose world.

Latias during her planning thought that it would only take a couple of hours to reach Pallet Town from Altomare. However, she soon found out how wrong her hypothesis was. She couldn't fly forever, and with several stops and rests on the ground, she had been flying for almost a day now. It had certainly caught the legendary pokemon by surprise how much flying she had really had to do. By the time she arrived in the Kanto region through Johto she was exhausted and ready to collapse.

She attempted to move from the Kanto-Johto border towards Pallet Town but ended up getting herself lost. She was an expert navigator when it came to Altomare, being able to find the fastest route to any location within the blink of an eye. When it came to anywhere else however, she was just about as navigationally challenged as a certain dense trainer. The map Bianca had given her had helped, without it, she would probably be in another region entirely.

_'What am I going to do now?'_ Latias thought to herself, completely lost. Having the last couple of hours been flying around aimlessly she had landed in a nearby town and changed into her human form, planning to ask for directions for Pallet Town. Before realizing that a lot of people would probably freak out if they started hearing a random girl talking to them in their heads.

Grumbling, the disguised psychic pokemon put her hands on her face in frustration. None of any of this was supposed to go this way, she had simply planned to quickly arrive in Ash's hometown and ask to join his team. Now she feared that she was going to miss her opportunity and that this would be all for nothing.

Latias walked around the town, seeing many houses all with the same white walls and blues roofs, a pokemon center and mart, and a gym that you would often find in many towns and cities. However, there was no sign indicating just exactly what town she was currently in.

"Hey er… Tia, over here." A female voice called out to her from behind.

Turning around Latias was greeted with a welcomingly familiar sight. 'Misty!' she called back. Latias hadn't expected to see her here. Running over towards Misty she stopped in front of her and put on a smile. 'You're a sight for sore eyes, how have you been?'

Misty, just like everyone else, had grown since the conflict for the souldew. She had grown significantly taller than when they last met. She also appeared to be more mature, most likely from having to run a gym all on her own. The only thing that was different about her clothing was that she wore a white shirt instead of the yellow shirt with two red straps.

Latias didn't have the time nor the energy to go on a witch hunt around Kanto looking for Ash, but with one of his close friends, she could easily locate him. In a hurry, she didn't let the woman answer her question.

'Listen, Misty, I need your help I-.'

"Let me guess, you're lost?"

Latias looked away in embarrassment but nodded her head. 'How did you know?'

The water trainer chuckled and crossed her arms. "You looked about as lost as a Psyduck in an overpopulated city. That and I know you aren't just paying me a friendly visit."

'What makes you say that.' Latias stammered defensively. 'Am I not allowed to visit some of my friends?' The jet-like pokemon really hoped that it wasn't the idea she was thinking of. But if past actions told her anything, it most likely was.

Misty shook her head and leaned against the side of a building with a smile. "Well, first of all, you quite obviously didn't know I lived here. Secondly, after that little stunt a while back, do you really think you would visit me first and don't even try to deny that it was you." she teased, wagging a finger.

Latias let out a squeak and tried to hide her red face from the redhead. 'How did she know?' She had only given the hint to Ash that it was her that kissed him that night, Misty shouldn't know that. 'Did Ash tell her?' No, he wouldn't have, at least she told herself that.

She looked up at the gym leader, looking at her she couldn't deny what she had done, her reaction had done most of the talking anyway. 'Yes… it was me.' Latias confessed.

Misty grinned. "Well, you certainly left an impression on him that's for sure." She said.

'I did?' Curiosity in the dragoness' voice.

"Yep, he was thinking about the whole situation all the way to the Silver Conference." The grin on her face grew wider.

Latias didn't think she would have left that big of an impression on him. The kiss had more just been a last minute thing with no real thought of repercussions. But now, was he actually interested in her?

She seemed to space out in thought, not really paying attention to anything around her. Misty waved a hand in front of her to try and get her attention but she didn't get any reaction.

Hundreds of different scenarios went through the legendary's head, all of them revolving around Ash. She finally came to her senses and shook her head. 'Focus Latias, you can think about that later, right now you need to find him first.'

"So I'm guessing you need to find Ash, don't you," Misty said as Latias came back to her senses.

She nodded confidently. 'Yes, right now nothing has been more important to me I…' Latias paused as she realized why Misty thought she was looking for Ash. 'But it's not the reason that you think it is!' she quickly added.

"Oh, is it not?" Misty was clearly unconvinced by her rapid response.

'I need to find him so that he can train me to become stronger.'

Misty raised an eyebrow. "You need training? I thought I saw you take out the wave heading for Altomare, that didn't look like you needed any training at all." Of all the things she expected her to say this was clearly not one of them.

Latias sighed. 'The whole reason I was able to take out the wave was due mainly to the amount of psychic energy I had stored within me. I managed to release all of it at once, there was a reason I passed out for a week.' She didn't like revealing a lot of that information, it made her victory seem more like a one-time thing rather than an actual accomplishment. However, Misty was a friend and she trusted it with her.

'So... ' Latias said shuffling her feet. 'If you could point me towards Pallet Town I'll be on my way.' Internally she smiled '_After all this time I'm finally going to see him!'_

Misty chuckled nervously. "Yeah, about that, see he isn't in Kanto right now."

The dragoness froze. 'How was he not in Kanto? The Unova conference had only ended a little over a week ago! There simply wasn't any way he would leave that early!' Latias felt like collapsing, she had come all this way to Kanto just to find out he wasn't even here. 'I can't wait several more months to find him!'

Misty shrugged her shoulders. "Trust me, no one really knows why he left so early." She said. "However, I do know where he went."

Latias' face seemed to almost light up. 'You do?' she asked hopefully.

"Yep." she confirmed as she looked around for a minute before pointing North. "He's in a region called Kalos, it's about that general direction. It's not too far away, but still can take several hours via plane."

'Well, you are forgetting one thing.' Latias reminded her. 'I am a lot faster than your planes, aren't I.'

Latias could very easily outfly a jet, even without much training it was practically a part of being a Lati.

"No matter how fast you are you might want to get leaving soon. If you are lucky enough he might not be lost in the wilderness when you get there." Misty looked to be recalling some fond, and not so fond memories.

Latias grabbed both of Misty's hands and shook them violently. "Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you." Latias repeated, slipping into her pokespeech. Realizing this, she blushed and let go. 'I'll get going now, thanks again, I don't think I could have figured any of this out without you. If there's any way I can repay you just say it.'

Misty simply waved her hand, still a little dazed from being violently shaken. She massaged her hand and looked at Latias. "Your welcome, and how about we just say that you owe me one."

Latias nodded in agreement and made a break for the tree line. 'Goodbye, thanks again,' the disguised legendary called out, hopping over a fence. 'I'll say hi to him for you!' She ran into the tree line before transforming back into her true form and taking off North towards Kalos.

**0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0**

Ash didn't entirely know what had happened. One moment Professor Sycamore's Garchomp had been nice and friendly, being the cuddliest Garchomp he had ever seen in his entire life. The next moment a bright light had surrounded her as she seemed to evolve a fourth time.

Instead of the cuddly landshark pokemon that he had known, a violent creature seemed to step out from her shell. Going berserk after just three seconds of the transformation she charged out of the glass roof of the lab, sending shards of glass everywhere, and proceeded to go on a rampage across the city.

Ash, being the hero he was, charged out after the rampaging pokemon. Right now he didn't have any of his pokemon on him, only Pikachu who was hanging onto his shoulder, and a newly acquired Froakie. Trying to fight the ground type in a one on one battle seemed like suicide, not to mention it also seemingly evolved a third time.

Instead, Ash hoped that he could reason with the pokemon. He knew that inside that pokemon there was still the same loving Garchomp that he had only seem minutes earlier. If he could reach into that he hoped he could stop her from causing further damage to the city.

Chasing after her down the many streets it became difficult to follow her. She had the advantage of running across the rooftops of the city while Ash had to push through a rapidly panicking crowd of pedestrians. It became apparent what the land shark's main objective was, to reach Prism Tower, the massive spire that sat right in the middle of the city.

The crowd started to clear as the trainer got closer and closer to the center of the city. He saw the Garchomp leap off a rooftop to his right towards the tower. However, Ash soon noticed that she had a secondary objective in mind. Looking down at her path he saw a young girl standing there in fear at the approaching mutated pokemon.

"Look out kid!" Ash attempted to warn her but she already knew what was coming.

Faster than Ash could see a mechanical tubelike arm launched out and pulled the small girl out of harm's way. The dragon type landed, not caring so much that she had missed her prey and launched up to the side of the building, using her two blade-like arms to start scaling the building.

Ash let out a sigh of relief, turning to face the blonde haired girl's savior he realized who the two of them were. "Clemont, Bonnie?" Ash had met the two of them whenever he had first entered the city.

"Ash? What are you doing here?" Clemont asked with a look of shock.

"I'm trying to calm down Sycamore's Garchomp, she just went crazy out of nowhere," Ash explained.

Clemont's shock only grew. "You are trying to calm down that!" He gestured towards the pokemon currently scaling the tower.

Ash nodded with determination. He looked around for a way to get up the spire before finding a service ladder, running over to it he began to climb.

"Come on brother!" Bonnie called from behind as she rushed past him to climb up after Ash.

"Bonnie! Get back here, don't climb up with him!" Clemont called back. He looked between Ash and the Garchomp currently tearing chunks out of his tower. Against his better judgment, he began to climb as well.

"Pika…" Ash heard his partner let out. Pikachu was currently looking at the ground which was rapidly growing further and further away. Froakie seemed to share the same sentiments.

"I know Pikachu," Ash whispered, forcing himself not to look down. _'Normally I'd have my whole team or a legendary pokemon with me in this situation.'_ He thought to himself as he continued the climb. The trainer knew full well that if he fell, no one was going to stop his fall.

**0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0**

With Latias' departure from Cerulean City, she had flown with a vigor found unmatched in her entire life. Flying North she quickly started to see different forms of architecture and pokemon starting to appear. Now realizing that she was in this Kalos she doubled her efforts.

Misty had told her that Ash had only left about a day ago, so Latias decided to check the area surrounding the main airport in Kalos. She followed one of the airplanes towards the airport, trying to fly far enough away so she didn't grow deaf by the time she reached the ground. She did fly close to a plane once and waved a claw at a child that had noticed her. The child tried to tell his mother but Latias had already turned invisible and flown off.

When she flew into the main structure of the airport she noticed a large crowd of people all standing around a television news broadcast.

_'What are they looking at.'_ Latias wondered to herself.

Floating over to them, she went slightly higher than their heads to get a good look at what was going on. The news broadcast showed a woman and a picture of a Garchomp, but at the same time, it wasn't a Garchomp.

"My names Poppy Harlow reporting for Kalos Central News at Lumiose City." The woman on the screen introduced herself as. "We have just received reports that an enraged mega evolved Garchomp has rampaged through the city and is currently climbing Prism Tower."

_'Lumiose City, Prism Tower, mega evolution?'_ Latias couldn't keep up with all the new information being thrown at her. What interested her the most was mega evolution as she looked over at the picture of the strange Garchomp. 'Is that mega evolution? It certainly looks a lot scarier than a normal Garchomp.'

Latias had personally never even heard of mega evolution. Most of the information of the outside world came from conversations she overheard or books she had bought. Nowhere in all of it did she ever hear a peep about mega evolution.

"We will now be switching over to a live feed." The screen stayed on the reporter for a quick second before switching over to a camera view of the tower via a helicopter.

The Camera panned over the destruction made by the Garchomp. "As you can see the damage Garchomp has caused. Authorities right now do not seem to know how to respond to the situation as they have all gathered around the base of the t-."

The unknown man stopped, a small conversation took place that Latias could barely hear before the camera panned directly to the top of the spire.

"It appears that a group has already climbed the tower and have currently engaged it!"

As the helicopter moved closer and closer to the tower Latias realized who was at the top of it. There stood a young man, about aged fifteen years old with a blue jacket, red cap, and a Pikachu by his side. It was Ash and only one thought went through her head: he was in trouble.

Latias shot out from the building as fast as she could, knocking a few of the people around the tv off of their feet. _'Hang on Ash, I'm coming for you.'_ Was all she thought to herself.

**0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0**

Ash's arms and legs felt sore whenever he reached the top of Prism Tower. He had climbed for several minutes straight and was now hundreds of feet above the ground. The wind was a lot stronger up here and threatened to blow him off the edge if he wasn't careful. He stood against the main spire structure, on the other side of it stood the Professor's Garchomp firing hyper beams indiscriminately into the air.

Clemont climbed up after him, having left Bonnie down below for her own safety. He pressed himself against the wall and looked over at Ash. "What are... we going to... do to stop it?" He was very clearly out of breath, letting out lengthy gasps of breath in between his words.

"I was thinking maybe we could talk to her." Ash knew the strategy wasn't all that smart, but they couldn't turn back now. "We can't fight it, our pokemon probably aren't strong enough to take her on."

"So you want us to try and calm down the murderous pokemon." Clemont didn't try to hide his disbelief.

Ash nodded as he began to step around the corner towards the Garchomp. Pikachu and Froakie both hopped in front of him to try and protect him if necessary. Ash heard Clemont say a small prayer to Arceus before stepping out with him.

The Garchomp turned to look at them and let out a roar, they all had to cover their ears from the sheer volume of it. When it was finished she stomped onto the platform they stood on slightly cracking it.

Ash grimaced but continued forward. "You remember me right? I was at the lab when you transformed, you look awesome by the way." Ash didn't know what he was saying in all honesty, he was just trying to remind her of what she was like not even an hour before.

She growled and let out a hyper beam right next to them in warning. Pikachu sparked his cheeks in response.

"Look, I know it's probably crazy for you right now," Ash said, attempting to move closer to the Garchomp.

She let out a hyper beam right in front of them, cracking the platform even more as small bits fell off. The top of the spire shook, nearly throwing Ash and Clemont off their feet.

Ash's heart was beating out of his chest. _'If I don't do something quick we are all going to go tumbling down!'_ Ash turned around to see Clemont had backed up but readied his Aipom arm in order to catch him if he fell.

"You're in a brand new evolution right now, I get it, but that isn't an excuse to go around destroying everything around you indiscriminately!" Ash saw almost a guilty look come across the Garchomp's face. "What do you think the Professor would say about all of this!"

She almost seemed to be calming down, however, a helicopter flew a little too close for her liking as she stomped on the ground and shot a hyper beam at it, just barely missing it.

Ash used this distraction to run up to her, past his pokemon and put a hand on her snout. The Garchomp turned and prepared to raise a blade to strike him down but stopped. Her expression seemed to change from one of anger to one of compassion, seeming to remember him from the short time they were together. A bright light encompassed the land shark as she reverted back to her normal form.

The Garchomp collapsed to the ground, clearly exhausted from the transformation. All four of them let out a sigh of relief. The young trainer didn't really know if what he did would have actually worked, but it had worked so he didn't question it.

"Good job." Ash turned around to see Clemont giving him a thumbs up. "I've never seen anybody able to calm down a mega evolved pokemon like that before."

_'Mega evolution? Wasn't that the thing the professor was going to start talking about?' _

Ash didn't have much time to think about it as the ground beneath Pikachu started to cave in. Without thinking, Ash ran towards the frightened pokemon and threw him to safety. As his foot stepped down on the already ruined ground it collapsed, sending Ash down with it.

"Ash!" Clemont tried to reach out with his Aipom arm but it was too late, he was too far away.

Ash let out a scream as he fell. The wind started to rush past his face as he attempted to grab onto the ledge before it was too late. With no such luck, he was sent tumbling to the ground. He had been in several life-threatening situations before, but none of them had he ever felt so helpless. No one was going to save him this time, his recklessness had finally caught up with him.

The only thing that Ash felt was fear. As he started to fall faster all he could think about how much he would miss everything, his friends, his pokemon, Pikachu, his mom, and all of his unfulfilled promises. He would never see Pidgeot again, never see Latias and give her that battle she had promised, never see any of his friends again.

He soon started falling, sideways?

Two, what seemed like claws grabbed onto his sides and flew him out towards the outer shell of the city. Ash couldn't see who or what was carrying, it was apparently invisible.

"Just who are you?" He reached out towards where whatever grabbed him and felt it. He could feel what seemed like feathers, feathers that were oddly familiar.

The invisible being set him down on the ground, he couldn't see much under the faint moonlight but the street lamps gave way to a transparent shape. Though it only raised more questions as it was familiar but he couldn't place his finger on it.

Ash continued to stare at his mysterious savior, wondering who it was.

**0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0**

Latias was lucky she arrived in Lumiose City when she did as when she arrived Ash had already begun his fall from the tower. Invisible, she caught him about halfway down and sped towards the outskirts of the city in hopes of revealing herself to him. But now, she felt she just couldn't do it.

Years of hoping and waiting to meet him all came crashing down in this single moment. Years of her wanting to train and give him the battle of his life. Years of hoping that he may come back one day and whisk her off that island himself. Years of her heart silently aching for him.

She had planned a whole little speech in order to convince him to let her join his team, however, now faced with the prospect of saying it directly to his face she panicked.

She didn't know what to say to him. All this time in his mind she was supposed to be training, but then she just comes back and asks him to train her. Could he take her seriously that all this time she was supposedly training she had done nothing? He would probably have seen her as lazy and not willing to accept any hard work.

Her heart sunk as she continually thought of more and more scenarios. So many "what ifs" clouded her thoughts, unable to see any bright side to this situation. She continued to indulge in her self pity, thinking that he wouldn't want to see such a useless, and lazy dragoness.

It was painfully silent, Latias couldn't figure out what to say or do. Ash reached out with a hand as if seeing if she would actually reveal herself. She reached out with a claw of her own and took his hand. It was warm and gave her a comforting feeling as if he was telling her that she didn't have to be afraid. They stayed there for what seemed like hours when in reality it was only a few minutes, waiting to see how the other would react.

Latias' face grew somber and pulled her claw back. 'Oh, Ash.' She couldn't do it, even when she thought of his kind and caring nature all she could think about was how disappointed in her he would be.

She moved to fly off into the night but turned around to give him one last look before flying off into the starry sky. Had she stayed a little longer, she might have heard the one word she would have wanted to hear.

**0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0**

"Latias?"

Ash watched her fly off he managed to piece together everything to form that thought. The invisibility, the feathers, her familiar claw, the vague shape she appeared in, the aura she seemed to give off. It was all over the place, but somehow, it made sense.

He was confused about it himself, it seemed like a random assortment of clues that couldn't really add up to anything. The trainer knew her though, he remembered her laugh, smile, touch, aura, how she looked, it was all ingrained into his mind. He remembered all the fun times they had together. He remembered her sacrifice for Alto Mare, and nearly losing her life in the process. He remembered her telling him how she was going to train to become the strongest legendary there was, much like a dream of his own. He remembered… the kiss.

Despite the short time they were together for, memories of her always popped up while he was on his journey. He would often wonder how she was, what she was doing, how her training was going. He had often thought of going back to visit her but he was so focused on becoming a pokemon master that he never really gave it any real consideration. It was always the next region, the next gym, the next battle.

_'But why was she here?'_ That was the one question that he couldn't answer.

Ash stared out into the now empty street with a puzzled expression. Not a lot would make the dragoness leave Altomare, the one thing she was committed to the most was protecting the city of water and its inhabitants. One of the main reasons she stayed was so that she could continue being a guardian of Alto Mare. He snapped back to the land of the living, hearing the sirens coming from the city center.

The trainer yawned and looked up at the sky, it was almost midnight. 'How is it already this late?' He thought rubbing his eyes.

"Pika!"

Ash turned around to see Pikachu and Froakie running towards him, a large figure shot off into the sky behind them.

"Pikachu! Froakie!." He ran over to them as Pikachu jumped up onto his shoulder and nuzzled his cheek, clearly happy to see him.

He leaned down to pet Froakie and assured the two of them that he was fine before returning the small blue pokemon to his pokeball.

Ash turned to face Pikachu. "Let's go home, buddy. I don't want to deal with all of this right now."

He was tired and preferred to not interact with the news as they would keep him up the rest of the night. Deciding to sleep now and tell everyone he was ok later he started his walk to the nearest pokemon center.

His thoughts drifted back to Latias._ 'Had the souldew been stolen and her city was now underwater?'_ He wondered, though he decided against that, that would have been pretty big news.

The walk towards the pokemon center was silent, except for his footsteps and the occasional call of a wild pokemon. Finding the pokemon center wasn't hard, there were several in Lumiose City itself, all with a bright red roof and shiny exterior. The doors automatically opened as he stepped inside, he simply asked for a room and went on up the stairs, too tired to make any more conversation.

Stepping into his assigned room he collapsed onto his bed. 'Well, whatever is going on I need to figure it out and fast.' For all he knew Latias could be in big trouble and just didn't know how to tell him. He looked to his side to see Pikachu already passed out, deciding it was about that time as well he fell fast asleep.

**0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0**

Latias flew through one of the dark forests that surrounded Lumiose City. You could barely see anything as the trees above blocked most of the moonlight from seeping through. All she could think about was how foolish her decision to leave Ash hanging was. Everything had been perfect and she ruined it, all because she had lost any confidence in herself.

The red and white dragoness floated over to a tree and tried to figure out how her brother slept in them. 'How does he manage to do this every single day' she thought to herself. Managing to find a semi-comfortable position, she let out a sigh and closed her eyes.

_'Tomorrow… tomorrow will be the day I tell him.'_ She thought as she listened to the unknown calls of all different types of pokemon all around her. It was calming, while she was in a strange foreign land it provided her a bit of peace, to finally be away from Alto Mare. Even if Latios caught her tomorrow, she wouldn't have given up this type of experience ever. It was all new and interesting stuff she never even knew existed before. Tomorrow was a new day and a new beginning, she would have her chance again.

With that in mind, she slipped into a deep slumber with a smile on her face.

* * *

**Once again, thanks for reading till the end.**

**I think my writing style is focusing a lot on detail, I might be changing that soon to focus more on dialogue. I'll probably try it out in the next chapter because it seems more like a dialogue-heavy chapter.**

**I didn't really know how to feel about this chapter as its main purpose was to put everything into place more or less. I felt like it was lacking in cohesion or something along those lines but at the same time, I didn't want to dance around Latias and Ash meeting up for so long. I also didn't want everyone to just teleport into place.**

**I am also co-authoring Totem-Mimikyu's A Darkness Descending, so that should be fun.**

**As always, leave a review of what you liked or didn't like. I'm wanting to improve so any help is welcome.**


	4. Reunions

Rising of a Guardian - Distress

"Speech."

'Telepathy.'

_Thoughts._

* * *

The Secret Garden was still as peaceful as ever when Latios woke up. He yawned and opened his eyes but immediately shut them due to the midday sun. Turning his head away from the sun's harsh rays he looked around the garden seeing nothing out of place. Everything was perfect, nothing out of the ordinary.

The psychic dragon pushed himself off the tree he was sleeping on and floated over to the pond in the middle of the garden. First, he reappeared and disappeared the blood red Souldew to check on and reapply its cloaking shield to make sure no one wandering into his home could simply take it. Next, he checked on the several different families of pokemon that had taken up refuge in the Secret Garden, making sure all was well and good. After that, he gathered a breakfast of pecha berries he had secretly stashed for himself. Finally, he checked his bond with Latias and still found her in Alto Mare; she was staying in one place probably taking a nap.

Deciding he would deal with her later he turned invisible and floated slightly out of the hidden entrance. He saw a rolled up bundle of paper sitting near it, grabbing it with psychic he quickly rushed back into the garden and unrolled it to reveal the daily copy of the Alto Mare Times.

Latios had a subscription to the local newspaper business here in Alto Mare paid via Lorenzo. A copy of it would always be delivered to what they thought was a normal wall when in reality it was the entrance to the Secret Garden. He would read it to catch up with any events or troubles that he had missed out on during his nightly patrols.

"Lost girl… fire at a cafe… robbery at a restaurant..." He muttered to himself as his eyes scanned the titles, most if not all of these problems had been solved by him the other night. He continued through the first page, flipped to the next and saw a title that caught his eye. "A murder?"

This certainly came as a surprise to him, Alto Mare hadn't had a murder in he didn't know how many years. The city was relatively peaceful whenever it came to violent crime, Latios made sure of that. Reading over the article it seems a man had been murdered by what investigators claim to be a scyther. _Scythers weren't native to Johto, and certainly not Alto Mare, so a trainer probably caused all of this… or a more qualified criminal._

He leaned more towards the latter, trainers committing crimes simply wasn't a very common occurrence. _I'll tell Latias to keep a look out for this guy… speaking of Latias, I need to go wake her up._

His sister had made it a small habit of trying to sleep in for a long as she could, often going to what he considered extreme lengths for the task. She had found ways of hiding her presence, creating decoys and hiding spots that he still had some trouble finding even on repeat occurrences. All in the pursuit of a few more hours of sleep.

Latios wished that she would take her morning patrol a little more seriously. He knew that she hated the patrol mainly due to her orders: Go around and if you find anything, wake me up. She couldn't not follow these rules, if she encountered anything beyond a simple Rattata she wouldn't be able to deal with the situation.

Latias had begged him constantly for even the smallest amount of training, but every single time he had rejected her. Latios saw that the best way in order to protect his sister after the battle of Alto Mare was to make sure she couldn't directly defend herself. If she couldn't directly defend herself, all she could do was run and hide from any threats that faced her. After nearly losing her once he wasn't going to take any chances of losing her again, the dragoness' scar made sure he didn't forget that.

Sighing, Latios cloaked once more and flew out towards the psychic signal. _Maybe I could give her just a little bit of training, just enough so that she will actually go on patrol._

Flying through the streets and canals of Alto Mare he came across the reading, and he saw nothing. Looking around and not seeing Latias he chuckled to himself. "A decoy. Alright, I'll play your game sister."

He flew towards all her favorite hiding spots, checking underneath bridges, in balconies with no entrance, on top of roofs, even in certain abandoned homes. His twin had created a network of "safe houses" that she would always sleep or hide in whenever she felt like it. After each area he checked a small frown began to form on his face. Normally he could get some sort of faint reading from Latias after he checked each spot but this time, there was nothing. Worry started to slowly throb in his stomach, she didn't appear to be anywhere in the city.

'Alright Latias, I give up you can come out now!' The Eon dragon called out with telepathy, no answer. 'I'll let you sleep in early in the Secret Garden if you come out, how does that sound?' Once again, there was no answer.

Latios was beginning to sweat. 'Latias, I'm serious, this isn't funny! Come out right now!' Racing through the waterways and streets once more he created huge gusts of wind in his wake that blew over any loose objects. Something was wrong, normally she would just give up after he called out to her.

_Was she in trouble? Had she been attacked or captured? Had this mysterious murder with a scyther gotten to her?_ These thoughts raced through his head at mach speed before he came to a sudden stop and face clawed himself. Bianca and Lorenzo's house! Why didn't I think of that! Latias was probably laughing herself to tears through one of their windows at him for not checking one of the most obvious places she could hide in.

Latios slowed down and calmly floated on over to the museum caretaker's house. For a second there he had thought that Latias was in trouble. In the end, he knew she was smart, her getting caught was one of the least of his worries. _More likely for her to leave Alto Mare then get caught,_ he thought idly to himself.

Latios flew up to the front door and knocked. After waiting a few brief seconds and hearing footsteps approach the door it opened to reveal Lorenzo. Seeing no one he stood aside and held the door as wide open as it could go. The dragon guardian just barely squeezed through the door as his much larger frame almost couldn't even fit through the entryway.

Turning visible in a flash of light, he turned around carefully so that his frame didn't knock over anything important. 'Good afternoon Lorenzo, I hope I'm not intruding.' He said with a smile.

"Oh nonsense, you know that I appreciate any company I can get on my few days off, now don't you?" A hearty laugh escaped the old man.

Latios shook his long neck. 'Well, I'm afraid I won't be able to stay with you long. I was hoping you could tell me where Latias is.' While he would like to spend more time with Lorenzo he simply didn't have days off as most humans did.

"Well, no, I don't know where she is at the moment."

Latios froze in place, his smile disappearing. 'Have you seen her this morning at least? I've been looking for the past half hour and haven't found a single feather of her.'

Lorenzo scratched his beard. "I did talk with your sister early this morning, though it was a bit of a strange conver-"

'What did she talk about!' Latios hastily cut him off, the question being more a demand if anything. He took a deep breath and calmed himself down. 'Did she at least mention that she was going somewhere?'

The old man seemed to flinch at the outburst but recovered quickly. "No, she didn't mention anything, however, she sounded like she was planning something that you weren't going to like."

Something that I wouldn't like? Latios was confused by this, though, it could explain why he couldn't find her, she was probably trying her hardest to try and not be found. But where would she have gone? 'Please, if you know anything I need to know it, I have to make sure that Latias is safe.' Putting his claws in a begging motion he was almost pleading with Lorenzo.

"Bianca did mention she was going to be meeting with her and left a lot earlier than she normally does, that's all I know." Lorenzo's face turned serious, he seemed to realize Latios' plight. "Is there somewhere that you would like me to check?"

Latios turned invisible and moved to exit the house. 'No, you stay here, I'll check around for Bianca. Stay safe for me, Lorenzo.' With that, he burst open the door with psychic and flew out as fast as he possibly could.

Flying high above Alto Mare's waters he searched for any sign of the paintress. While the city was bustling with activity, Bianca's psychic reading easily stood out amongst the rest and he found her near one of the city's coasts.

The psychic guardian spotted the young artist looking out East from Alto Mare's docks. She appeared to be drawing something but he didn't pay too much attention to that. He flew down towards Bianca and hovered a few feet to her side.

'Bianca?'

She let out a small scream as she jumped from where she sat in pure shock. Throwing the pencil out of her hand she quickly clasped a hand over her heart, taking several deep breaths in order to slow down her breathing. Once she was finished she looked around for the intruder, she saw no one and realized who it was.

'Don't scare me like that, Latios!' She squealed, still clutching her heart. "You almost gave me a heart attack!" Her eyes darted around the docks attempting to find the Eon dragon.

Sensing no one was nearby, Latios turned visible again and changed into his human form. It wasn't much special as he didn't roam around often in it, the only thing that stood out was a bright blue jacket and his deep red eyes showing something much more behind the disguise. Latias and Bianca often complained that he didn't have any style, but he didn't see much reason for it.

'Sorry about that, I was just relieved to find you and didn't realize you couldn't see me.' He expected a joke or a humorous response, but nothing came. Instead, she just nodded her head and moved to pick up her pencil. He had a feeling in his gut that something was wrong, very wrong.

'It was just that, I haven't seen Latias all afternoon and I can't find her. Lorenzo said she was with you this morning so I was hoping you could help me.'

When he said that Bianca had already kneeled down onto the wooden dock and picked up her pencil, she clutched both the drawing and writing utensil close to her chest and stayed there. She appeared to have frozen right there on the spot, glued to the ground as if unable to move. "Yes." She finally let out. "I can tell you where she is."

It was silent for several moments, Bianca not finishing her answer. 'Bianca, I don't have time to wait, are you going to tell me where she is or not?' Latios was getting impatient if she knew where his sister was why wouldn't she just tell him. Thinking that something bad had happened he moved to begin tearing down the city brick by brick until he found her.

"She's gone."

Time seemed to stop for the blue and white dragon. _Gone? What did she mean by gone?_ Fearing the worst he grabbed onto the paintress' shoulders and turned her around, seeing not a look of fear but nervousness. 'I am going to ask this one more time. Where is Latias.' His scarlet red eyes stared into her own chocolate brown.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath before opening her eyes and letting it out. "She's gone, gone from Alto Mare. She left this morning while you were asleep."

His grip loosened on the artist as he felt light-headed, that wasn't like Latias she would never do something like that. He gripped a hand onto his head as he fell backward into a sitting position on the hardwood deck. The words "She's gone" repeated through his head over and over again. 'Why?' Was all he managed to get out.

"Latias left because you wouldn't allow her to become stronger," a twinge of sadness in her voice, "She told me because she didn't want you or Lorenzo freaking out too much." Bianca stood up from her kneeling position and walked over with the drawing in hand.

'But, I did it all to protect her.' Latios expression was almost dumbfounded.

Bianca placed the drawing gently into his lap. "It wasn't your fault, Latios. It's what she wanted, you just couldn't give it to her." She retreated back up the steps of the dock, leaving his sight.

The legendary could sense a deep sorrow within her as she walked off, she seemed just as hurt with her departure as he was. Looking out towards the rolling waves of the ocean he didn't know what to think.

He thought he had predicted every possible move that Latias would have made for training but she did the one thing he would have never expected. Ever since the night she had woken from her injury he had hoped that Latias would have deferred any ideas of training and just live a happy carefree life. However, he had underestimated her resolve and had paid dearly for it. Now the one thing he wished to protect most in this world had escaped his grasp into the great unknown.

The overprotective guardian wanted to rush out there and bring his twin sister back to the city of water, back under his watch. Yet, he couldn't, he still had a city to protect, a Souldew to keep watch of and a possible murderer on the loose. The moment he had an opportunity he would bring her back but now was not the time.

Moving his head down he stared blankly at the drawing in his lap, flipping it over he was greeted with a monochrome picture. It depicted Latias, back towards the viewer, flying off into the sunset over a great, vast ocean.

**0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0**

Ash was awakened by a ray of harsh, unforgiving sunlight as it managed to shine through a small crack in the pokemon center room's blinds. He tried unsuccessfully to go back to sleep and eventually submitted to the new morning. Laying on his back the young trainer looked up at the bland white ceiling in thought. His eyes widened as he realized the situation he was in and the memories from last night.

"Wake up Pikachu we need to get ready now!"

Ash catapulted himself out of the bed, tearing the sheets off and nearly throwing Pikachu against the wall as he let out a cry of shock. Racing into the bathroom he took one of the fastest showers he had ever taken in his life. Stepping out and nearly slipping on the wet floor he dried himself off and pulled out a pair of clean, semi-wrinkled clothes from his bag and put them on.

Shoving open the door he encountered the scene of what looked like the scene burglary he had left behind. His partner was still attempting to rub his tired eyes as he appeared to be trying to figure out what had just happened. He looked over at Ash and sparked his cheeks in annoyance, clearly agitated by the rude awakening.

"Pika Pika!" He called out, his arms gesturing wildly to the tossed around blankets and pillows. Crossing his arms he shot a glare at the trainer standing in the doorway.

Ash, however, didn't care. "No time to think about this buddy, the center will take care of it, right now we need to tell everyone that we are actually alive." He picked up the yellow mouse and placed him on his shoulder. "And one other thing, but I'll tell you about that on the way to the professor's lab."

Almost kicking the door open, Ash rushed out and nearly shoved one of the center attendants into another wall. Yelling out an apology he ran down the hallway, Pikachu hanging on for dear life. Taking several steps at a time down the stairs the pokemon trainer stumbled into the lobby of the pokemon center before making a break for the sliding glass doors.

"Ash, could you slow down for a second?" A polite voice sounded from behind him. Turning around he saw it was Nurse Joy waving for his attention.

While he was turned around, he continued running in the same direction. "Sorry Nurse Joy, I'll come back and fix up that room for you how abo-."

"Ash!" The one single word erupted from the healer's mouth in a commanding tone. Said trainer immediately stopped in his tracks, still facing the nurse. "Everyone knows that you are alright, I've already informed the police that you were fine and didn't sustain any noticeable injuries. News stories have already run that you are fine, there is no need to go rushing out saying that you are ok."

A sheepish smile appeared on Ash's face as he scratched the back of his neck, everyone in the lobby was now focused on him. "Heh, sorry about that Nurse Joy, I'll… go… eat breakfast… yeah." His eyes shifted between everyone as he attempted to make his exit appear as normal as possible, but with several pairs of eyes staring at him he couldn't.

Ash casually stepped out of the pokemon center into Lumiose City's already busy streets, not wanting to eat in there as he feared it would bring too much attention to himself. Walking through the crowds of pedestrians he found the closest cafe and sat down at the nearest table. Pikachu hopped off his shoulder and stood on the opposing side of the table, he turned to face the young trainer and started slowly clapping his paws together in a mocking fashion.

"Pika chu." A smirk adorned the yellow rodent's face, however, he couldn't keep it long as he burst into a fit of giggles.

He glared at the pokemon he called a partner. "I tried my best, alright? It wasn't that great, but it was an attempt." Ash was flustered from the whole experience, he had tried to rush out of the pokemon center and nearly told everyone information they had already known.

"Pika Pi, Pikachu." He let out several calls and pointed at the trainer.

While Ash didn't understand pokemon completely, he understood enough to get a basic idea of what his own said sometimes. "The other thing? Oh!" He now remembered what he was referring to. "About that, see-."

He was interrupted for the second time that day by what sounded like an Arcanine growling in his stomach. Ash patted his belly. "How about we order something and then I'll tell you, cause I'm starving."

Ash ordered the largest helping of eggs he could find while he tried to get a bottle of ketchup out of the waiter for Pikachu. Now with their food and "food", he explained to his partner what had happened that night.

"So, after I had fallen through the hole in the tower I started falling when all the sudden I was picked up out of the sky by some invisible pokemon!" While Ash's voice didn't betray his excitement, Pikachu looked to be more focused on licking the bottle of ketchup. _I swear I don't know how he even does that. Even after traveling with him for years I still don't understand._

Ignoring his friend's gross habits, he continued. "After I was saved by this pokemon it flew me over to the edge of the city and set me down, that when I realized something: It was Latias."

This seemed to catch Pikachus attention as he stopped eating his ketchup and gave Ash a sideways glance. "Pika?" This had caught his interest.

Ash quickly nodded his head. "Yep, the same Latias from Alto Mare, here in Kalos." While Ash was happy that he may get to see his friend again, even after a good night's sleep and some time to think he still couldn't come up with any idea as to why she was here. Pikachu seemed to notice the thoughtful look on the trainer's face and started snickering.

"What are you laughing about?" He asked accusingly, the glare from before reappearing on his face.

The electric mouse rolled his eyes and started to work back on his "breakfast." Ash too started shoveling the eggs he had ordered down his throat while trying to think of a way that he could find her. He knew that wandering through the woods wasn't the best idea, one he didn't know even an area she was in and two his navigational skills weren't the best.

However, his Noctowl might be able to help him. While the Noctowl wasn't a psychic type pokemon himself he was still highly intelligent and knew a large number of psychic type moves on his own. Deciding that he could probably assist in helping find Latias he would give Professor Oak a call later to have him sent over.

Finishing up his meal about the same time as Pikachu did his he stood up to stretch his limbs. "Come on buddy, let's go talk to the professor to see if we can figure out what happened last night."

Leaving the paid check on the table and grabbing his partner's now slightly heavier form he started the short walk over to Professor Sycamore's lab. The city seemed just the same as it had yesterday, the only difference being a few repairs going on after the events from last night and a couple of stares coming from passers-by that seemed to recognize him.

Arriving at the front door to the lab he entered through the surprisingly unlocked door and found himself in the grand main lobby of the pseudo mansion. He saw Professor Sycamore talking with both Clemont and Bonnie near a set of stairs in front of him. Sycamore seemed to notice his entrance and looked up with a pleasant smile on his face. The two siblings, confused, turn around to see what he was looking at and saw Ash right in front of them.

"Ash!" Clemont ran over to him, with Bonnie right behind him. He stood before Ash and looked him up and down as if he wasn't real. "I thought that you had died, I thought that… I'm sorry!" He burst out as he fell down on his knees in a begging motion.

"Uh… it's okay?" Ash was, to say the least, a little confused. What exactly was Clemont sorry about? He had helped out that best that he could, he didn't really do anything wrong.

Bonnie rolled her eyes with her arms crossed. "Oh brother, it wasn't your fault, you couldn't have done anything to save Ash. Besides, he is right here in front of us this is nothing to go crying about!" The little girl was quite clearly frustrated with her brother's actions, something like this had more likely than not happened before.

"But-but, my Aipom arm should've been able to catch him, it should have been longer than it was, it should have easily caught him when." Clemont started to rapidly take in air as he was rambling to himself about how he could have done better that night. "It was all my fault that you fell Ash."

Ash put a hand on the inventor's shoulder, causing him to look up at the trainer. "It wasn't your fault, by the time you noticed I fell I was too far away for you to do anything. Besides, like Bonnie said, I'm standing right here safe and sound."

Clemont nodded and wiped his eyes underneath his glasses. "Ok… ok, I'm fine now just, I'm fine." He stood up, the fear and anxiety slowly easing out of him. Straightening his blue and yellow jumpsuit he brought himself back to composure. "I was worried that something had happened to you and that you would be mad, thank you." With a wave of a hand, Ash signaled him that he was good.

Hearing a clap Ash looked up to see Sycamore standing a few feet away from them. "If you three are finished I guess you came here for some answers Ash," he said. "But, in return, I am going to want some answers of my own. I am studying mega evolution after all."

Ash agreed, but he knew that the questions weren't going to be just about mega evolution. The questions on all of their minds being how did he survive the fall from Prism Tower. He didn't know if Latias would appreciate him telling people he had only just met a day ago about her so he attempted to come up with a convincing lie for his safe landing.

"You go first, Ash." The professor pulled up a chair sitting against the wall and sat in it in the middle of the main lobby. Ash and the siblings all went over a pulled up a chair and sat around in a small circle with the professor.

The pokemon trainer took a moment to think about what he wanted to ask, his hand stroking his chin at an imaginary beard. "Why was your Garchomp enraged like that professor?" Ash asked with worry in his voice. He hadn't seen a pokemon go berserk like that ever, she seemed almost completely filled with rage.

"That was one of the… side effects of the misuse of mega evolution." He paused as if to chose his words carefully. "Without a strong bond between the trainer and the pokemon, the pokemon can become overwhelmed with the power and go on a rampage. It takes the full willpower of both the trainer and pokemon in order to control that power." He leaned back and put one arm around the back of the chair in a sigh. "Obviously me and my Garchomp didn't have a strong enough bond to control it."

Sycamore looked down, he seemed a little distressed at that comment. "Me and her had trained and studied together for several years now at this point, I don't know why it failed." He shook his head and leaned forward to look at Ash. "Nevermind that, my turn. How did you calm her down?"

Ash shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know if I can really provide a good answer on that professor. I just tried to let her know who I was and it seemed to work." Ash replied with uncertainty.

"Wait," Clemont intervened, "Do you think it had something to do with you touching her Ash? She seemed to calm down at that moment." His eyes lit up as there looked to be a theory forming in his head.

"You managed to get close to her during her mega evolution Ash?" Sycamore asked in a surprised voice.

"Yeah, she got distracted for a second and I just reached out and tried to comfort her," Ash explained, putting his arm out in imitation of the action.

"Most encounters with enraged mega evolved pokemon often don't end up in people getting too close, it's simply too dangerous." Clemont pushed his glasses up his nose in thought before continuing. "Maybe the body of the pokemon is so overwhelmed with energy or pain that even a reassuring touch could bring them out of it, as long as they were weak enough."

"Maybe," Ash mumbled, he wasn't too much of a thinker on these types of issues.

The two scientists continued to explore the aspects of mega evolution and how you could pull a pokemon out of that state. While Ash did find it fascinating, he simply didn't know too much on the matter so he couldn't provide much input into the issue.

A loud, exasperated sigh came from the edge of the circle of chairs. The three turned to look at Bonnie who was swinging her legs in the chair impatiently. "This is boring, isn't there something cooler we can talk about like," she took in a gasp of air as if she came up with the best idea ever, "How did you survive falling off Prism Tower Ash!"

All three of them turned to look at Ash in interest as he turned away nervously. _I was really hoping that would come a bit later than this_. Ash fumbled around in his mind working to put together a good enough answer without revealing the truth.

"It was… one of my pokemon," Ash lied, one false statement in and he was already cracking. "My… Zororak saved me, she used her illusions so that no one could see her." Ash finished the last sentence as fast as he could. It wasn't great, but a lot better than he thought it would have turned out.

Professor Sycamore looked at Ash, clearly unconvinced. "Then why wasn't your "Zororak" up there with you? Why was she invisible anyway? Why bring you away from everyone else?" His questions battered down at Ash's already weak lie.

Said trainer noticeably flinched, he was backed into a corner. He quickly came up with another excuse, it was a gamble, but it could work. "Look… it is one of my pokemon, it's just that she is incredibly rare and I don't like going around and showing her off. A lot of people have tried to steal her in the past and I try to avoid that as much as possible." He hoped they would accept it, that was as close to the truth as he could get without revealing Latias' identity.

While Clemont and Sycamore seemed unconvinced at best, Bonnie was excited beyond any reasonable measure. "What kind of rare pokemon is she!" She looked as if she would take off from her seat at any given moment. "What type is she? Is she big? How powerful is she? How long have you had her?" The questions were never-ending as they kept coming and coming.

Clemont finally used his Aipom arm to silence her by covering her mouth with the device. "Bonnie, Ash is obviously not going to reveal anything about her," he said in an exhausted voice. Bonnie frowned and leaned back into her chair defeated.

"Well, Ash, I respect your care for your own pokemon, not a lot of trainers have the humility to do that for their pokemon." Sycamore stood up from his chair and reached into one of his lab coats pockets. "Now, I have something for you and Clemont." He pulled out two small glass devices with red handles on both sides of the glass.

Ash took the device and almost immediately recognized what it was. "A pokédex! Thanks, professor."

Looking at it up close its modern design definitely fit with much of the modernization going on within Kalos, between the giant metal tower in the center and electrical currents running throughout the city. Opening it he was greeted with a display which showed the regional dex of Kalos and the national dex. A small part of the regional dex had already been filled out, most likely pokemon he had seen that didn't originate from Kalos, while the national dex had hundreds of different entries for him.

Clemont sneaked over and took a peek at Ash's dex and looked flabbergasted. "How many regions have you been through Ash!" His eyes scanned the number of pokemon the trainer had scanned, which was well over the hundreds.

Ash adjusted his posture, standing up a little straighter than he normally did. "Five regions, this will be my sixth," he said with a hint of pride. If one thing was to be certain the number of regions he had traveled through was enough of an accomplishment on its own.

"Wow! You look about as old of Clemont, how have you traveled through five regions?" Bonnie held a look of astonishment within her azure eyes. The childlike wonder in her looked to project itself out into the world, imagining all the different types of pokemon that she had never seen or even heard of before.

Ash nodded and gave her a thumbs up. "Yep, started out on this journey since the day I could, haven't taken a break since." The pride continued to beam out from Ash's voice.

All the sudden a lightbulb appeared above the little girl's head. "You should come with us, Ash!" She didn't even bother trying to hide the excitement in her voice. "You could teach us all about pokemon training and how to fight. You could also teach me how to take care of my own pokémon."

Clemont sighed and shook his head. "Bonnie, you are only eight, you're not old enough to be able to own any pokemon yet."

The younger sibling turned to look at her older brother as if he had shut down all of her hopes and dreams. However, the sad expression soon shifted into a devious smirk as she twirled to face Ash. "We can also be useful. Clemont's a great inventor, I promise that he won't be too much of a burden."

"Well, I'm not _that_ grea- wait what do you mean a burden?" Clemont soon realized the insult and glared at his sister.

Bonnie held an innocent look on her face. "I don't know what you're talking about, brother," she said in a sing-song voice.

Ash ignored their bickering and pondered on the proposal. He didn't know them very well but at the same time, he hadn't known many of his other companions for more than a few days before going on a journey with them. He considered them friends even in the very short time that he had known them and saw them as trustworthy. Clemont had put his life on the line to help Ash and Bonnie had attempted to help but her big brother hadn't allowed her to do so. Plus, it wouldn't hurt to have some help early on.

He turned to face the pair, crossed his arms and sighed, they were still bickering over whether or not Bonnie had insulted the inventor. Rolling his eyes he brought his fingers to his mouth and let out a loud whistle, grabbing their attention. "If you'll have me, I'll gladly come along with you guys." The two looked at each other let out cheers of triumph at their acquisition of a new traveling companion.

"Well, welcome aboard Ash. I promise that _she_ won't be too much of a burden on our journey." Clemont shot a look over at his younger sister who begrudgingly accepted the insult.

"If that covers everything," The trio of traveling companions looked over at Professor Sycamore. "Good luck on your journey you three. Maybe you can bring me back some news on mega evolution while you're out there." He gave them a smile and walked away back towards his lab. The three of them, along with Pikachu, thanked him again and waved goodbye as they moved to exit out of the professor's lab.

Clemont directed his attention over to Ash. "So, where do we go from here," he asked curiously as they attempted to navigate through the ever-busy streets of Lumiose City.

Ash thought about it for a minute. _Now I guess I am going to have to tell them about Latias after all, didn't really think that part through I guess. Bonnie did mention that Clemont was an inventor, maybe he could help me find her._

Ash snapped out of his thoughts and turned his focus over to the inventor. "Clemont, do you think that you could build something to help locate any psychic power?"

He chuckled as if it was a childish question and pushed his glasses so that they reflected light from the sun's rays. "Anything is possible with the power of science, Ash," he said with the grin of a mad scientist and pointed his finger over at him. "Give me two hours, tops!"

The trainer watched at him with a nervous smile, looking at Bonnie shrugged her shoulders at him. Ash accepted that this was probably normal and focused back onto the road ahead. The trio continued onwards, looking for the start of their new journey.

**0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0**

A red and white dragoness wandered aimlessly through a forest that was near the South side of the city. Latias hadn't bothered to learn the name of it, she needed a safe place to rest after her long journey and the events from last night. She never got her much-desired sleep, instead, she got constant tossing, turning, and waking up in the middle of the night. By the time it was midday she had only gotten about four hours of sleep.

While laying there she had reflected a lot on how she had gotten there. Mainly her failed encounter at meeting Ash. _Today is going to be the day. I know I said that yesterday, but today is the day. I am going to meet with Ash and tell him everything… Well, not everything._ Her thoughts had been interrupted by a loud growling from her stomach.

Begrudgingly, she had gotten out of bed and yielded to her stomach which continually growled at her. The psychic guardian hoped to find some type of food besides oran berries. Flying through the vast amounts of trees she happened across something she thought she would have never seen. Standing before her was a tree filled to the brim with something she thought she'd never see out here.

"Pecha berries!" She squealed like a little girl she rushed over at the tree and began eating them with vigor. The differences in taste and flavor didn't matter to her, she hadn't seen this many pecha berries in her lifetime. Biting into the berries she could taste the overly sweet flavor of the fruit, she savored every bite as they were hollow at the middle.

She almost never had the pink heart-shaped berries, but when she did, they were considered a delicacy. They would only come in limited supply to Alto Mare each year and more often than not she would try and earn a little money from Bianca and Lorenzo to buy them as her family often scolded her for stealing anything. She personally liked to tell herself that it was them paying her back but she knew better.

_I really hope everyone back home is alright._ She paused in her gorging of the berries to think about it. _Bianca and Lorenzo could handle it but Latios has been trying to shelter me since we hatched, I hope he doesn't freak out too much._

While a small part of her wanted to return home before anyone noticed she pushed that thought aside. _I've waited long enough and come this far I'm not turning back now! _With that in mind, she began eating once more.

While the dragoness floated there feasting on the fruit she heard a small scuttling sound come from her right side. Turning to face it she came face to face with a Spinark. She let out a surprised cry and dropped the mass of berries that she held in her claws and psychic grip.

She frowned as she gazed at the dropped berries and looked over at the bug type pokemon. A shiver ran down her spine as she realized what pokemon it would eventually evolve into. _This isn't an Ariados, no need to be scared of it._

"You know, you shouldn't sneak up on others like that." The legendary put her claws on her side in an attempt to scold the Spinark. It simply looked at her with a puzzled look in its black eyes.

"Who?"

Letting out a sigh Latias decided to pick up her berries and begin eating again. As she descended and gathered them up she heard the same scuttling sound, only louder and much more numerous.

Flipping around she froze on the spot. Standing in front of her was about ten different pairs of bug-like eyes stared at her. And at their head, an Ariados looked at her with its own hungry eyes. The spider-like pokemon didn't even have to use Glare, she was already paralyzed with fear.

She was quivering at being in such close contact with a pokemon that had haunted her nightmares for the past four years. Its long purple and yellow appendages slowly moved its red and black body towards her, its pincers clack together in excitement.

The smaller Spinark moved up behind it as they closed in on their prey. She completely forgot about everything, she forgot about the berries, her journey, how to run away. But one thing came back to memory, one thing that she had promised not to do four years ago.

A shrill cry for help reverberated throughout the forest.

**0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0**

As Ash, Clemont, and Bonnie approached the forest the sounds of mumbling and mechanical work started to cut through the quiet and serene atmosphere of the woods.

It was late in the day, with the sun about to start setting across the horizon. As they neared the forest they started seeing its finer details. Great, sturdy trees jutted out from the ground being held down by their roots, wide swaths of tall green grass covered the forest floor. The calls of many different kinds of wild pokemon echoed throughout the forest, notably grass, bug, and flying types.

Over the tops of the trees, Ash saw his shiny Noctowl glide towards the group. Reaching out with his arm the smaller than normal pokemon landed on his arm and shook his head. Ash sighed, they hadn't found her.

He had picked out Noctowl in the hopes of finding Latias and at first, it seemed to have worked. While he wasn't psychic himself he still had to ability to use psychic powers and sense psychic energy. He used these to track Latias via some residual energy left by her in Lumiose City. Walking past Santalune City they arrived at the entrance to its corresponding forest where she supposedly resided.

Noctowl had gone ahead to try and finder her first but came back to no avail. Now they had an entire forest to search through completely blind.

The sound of Clemont's building all of the sudden stopped. Ash looked over at him and saw him hunched over a small device in his hands. "The future is now, thanks to science!" He held out the machine with one hand as if to show it off.

It was silent for a good moment, no one said a word.

Finally, Bonnie broke the silence. "So are you actually done, brother?" She sounded exhausted. "Cause we have been listening to you build that for the last two hours!"

Clemont sweat dropped as he glanced over at Ash for any support. Ash simply shrugged. "I think you need to work on a better way to make things quietly. But I'm sure it works great Clemont."

He nodded. "Well, prepare to have all your troubles whisked away in finding your lost pokemon Ash for this device will locate her within the blink of an eye."

Ash and Bonnie moved up at opposite sides of the inventor, curious as to how it would work. It was small, held a circular display and a gauge that read for something. He flipped a switch and the device turned on. Two red dots appeared.

"See? I've already picked up two psychic presences." Clemont said, clearly proud of his invention.

"Wow, science is so cool!" Ash replied with a look of amazement, however, it quickly changed. "Uh is it supposed to do that?"

Suddenly, the dot further from them began to grow in size. Clemont fumbled with the tracker. "No, let me just, uh…" the gauge on the machine started to go up and up until it started spinning out of control. The red dot continued growing bigger and bigger until it encompassed the entire display.

"Here we go again," Bonnie mumbled. She casually stepped back and pulled Ash along with her. Pikachu and Noctowl seemed to catch on to what was about to happen and shielded themselves with the human's bodies.

The dense trainer looked on as the blonde-haired inventor attempted to calm his invention down which was currently smoking. Several warning sounds came from the device as it started flashing red before it glowed and exploded right in Clemont's face.

The explosion whipped past as Ash looked on in complete shock while Bonnie had a nonchalant expression on her face. "Are you ok Clemont?" Ash ran over to him and walked around him to reveal that luckily he hadn't been burned but just covered in soot.

"It wasn't supposed to do that." He had a dumb look on his face as he collapsed onto his knees in failure.

"What happened to it?" Ash asked with concern. It seemed to work perfectly fine until that second dot had started growing.

"Clemont's inventions have a habit of… 'exploding spontaneously'," Bonnie said as she walked up to reassuringly pat her brother's back, "It's almost like a curse on him."

"That wasn't spontaneous though." Clemont realized as he got back onto his feet and wiped the ash off from his glasses. "The tracker managed to pick up two signals of psychic energy: one from your Noctowl and one from something inside the forest. Whatever was inside the forest had such a massive amount of power that it managed to cause my invention to overload and explode."

Ash smiled. "Do you remember where that dot was on the map? Cause that was most likely my pokemon and we'll at least have a general direction of where to go in order to find her." Not having to traverse the entire forest to find Latias was a big win in Ash's book

"Yes… but," Clemont had a thoughtful look on his face, "Exactly what kind of pokemon are we looking for? The amount of power given off by it was unreal, it was almost like a legendary pokemon was producing that energy."

"A legendary? I thought those were just stories?" Bonnie looked between the two of them for an answer.

"Well, uh-" Before Ash could go any further a shrill cry for help reverberated from the treeline.

Pikachu's ears perked up at the sound as if he recognized it. Clemont and Bonnie stepped back with a hint of fear, it sounded like one of those screams you would hear off-screen in a horror movie. Ash tensed up, he knew that sound. He wanted to hope it wasn't her, he wanted to believe that she was safe and sound somewhere, but he knew deep down that it was Latias who cried out

A second call, much louder than the other rang out from within the trees. Without thinking, Ash bolted in the general direction of it. Pikachu hopped off his shoulder and started to run in front of Ash to get slightly ahead in case of any danger. Noctowl flew beside the electric mouse, while he may not have known Latias but he knew that someone was in trouble. Clemont hurriedly called out after Ash as he and Bonnie tried to catch up with him but lagged behind.

Much of the grass deeper in the forest came up halfway to his knees. This made it difficult to run as with no path he couldn't see any of the tree's roots sticking up out of the ground. Tripping and nearly falling Ash managed to keep his stride as he ran through the forest. A third cry sounded out, this time being even louder than the last as he neared his target.

Pushing aside branches and bushes he broke into an open area, many Spinark dotted the area but one thing stood out amongst the rest: a red and black spider attacking a red and white dragoness.

Ash quickly came up with a battle strategy in order to free the dragoness. "Pikachu, use volt tackle on that Ariados! Noctowl clear out these Spinark with wing attack! Move it!"

Pikachu ran forward at lightning fast speeds, electricity building up around him as he rushed past the very confused Spinark and slammed into the Ariados. It went flying off the web covered guardian, letting out a cry of pain as its body was jolted by the force of the attack. The electric type sparked his red cheeks in warning at the spider-like pokemon, who got back on its legs and hissed in response.

Noctowl let out a caw as he unleashed a torrent of wing attacks, all hitting directly on target at the Spinark scrambling to find some order in the chaos. Several went flying into the air, either unconscious or severely wounded as the others left unscarred attempting to come together to fight against the ambush. They looked nervously between the psychic dragoness and the shiny pokemon, wondering if their easy prey was worth this amount of effort.

Ash ran up and stood in front of Latias, trying to shield the Ariados' eyes from her. The Ariados called over its remaining accomplices and faced down the trainer and his pokemon. It was tense for a few seconds, both sides wondering who was going to strike first. Ash was about to order an attack when the Ariados let out a call and the horde of pokemon retreated back into the forest.

Letting out a sigh of relief that there would have to be no more fighting, Ash leaned down next to the shivering form of Latias who appeared to have her eyes shut out of fear. As he and Pikachu began pulling the webbing off of her he could see that it most certainly was Latias. The scar running down her body had healed over since he last saw it but it still left a noticeable mark on her.

Once most of the web was off he shook her body a little to get her attention. "Hey Latias, it's me, Ash, can you hear me?" The dragoness seemed to shut herself out from the rest of the world during her panic. _If I recall correctly one of the thieves at Alto Mare had an Ariados, that's probably why she's freaking out so much._

He reached down to stroke her long neck, petting her in a vain attempt to bring her back to reality. But, she seemed to stop shaking, if a little.

Clemont and Bonnie burst into the area, covered in a small number of leaves as if they had been running through bushes. "Ash, do you think you could have wai-" He cut himself off at the sight of the legendary pokemon, his mouth opening and closing as if he didn't know what to say.

His sister, either ignorant to the dragoness' origins or caring more for her well being, ran up and kneeled down with Ash on the other side of the pokemon. "Is she okay? What happened to her?" She asked as she caressed the psychic pokemon.

"She was attacked by an Ariados and some Spinark," Ash replied, "I think she may be in shock though."

Noctowl flew down to inspect her. "Noctowl," he said, gesturing with a wing out of the forest.

Ash nodded in agreement, they had to leave and get Latias some help right now. He leaned down close to one of her feathery ear. "Latias, I know you don't want to but you need to get up. We have to get you checked out in a pokemon center to see if you have any bad injuries," Ash whispered in a comforting tone.

A golden-amber eye shot open and stared at Ash. 'A-Ash?' He heard her soft voice echoed through his mind.

He gave her a reassuring smile. "Yeah, it's me." All of a sudden the dragoness moved herself up with her claws and threw her body onto Ash's, wrapping him up in a tight embrace.

She started crying into his chest, the sobs rocking her whole body as she let out her emotions. 'Please, please don't leave me again.' Her claws could just barely wrap around Ash's stomach.

The trainer stroked behind her feathered ear, holding up a hand to Clemont who tried to silently ask if he wanted her off. "I won't ever leave you again, you don't have to worry." Ash wished their little reunion could have been under better circumstances but Latias clearly needed help. He hoped she was feeling better and asked again. "Can you get up off of me Latias, we need to get you checked up."

The dragoness stubbornly nuzzled her head further into Ash's belly, ignoring his request. He sighed, he didn't want to catch her without permission but he couldn't get up from underneath her weight. Pulling out a spare Pokeball, he slowly brought it up, gently tapped it against the tip of her nose and sucked her into the small capsule. He expected her to fight against, even just a small bit, but the ball simply clicked into place, confirming the capture.

Ash picked up the ball and held it in his hand, he didn't even bother saying his little line. "Can you find us a way out of here," Ash said, turning to Clemont.

"Yeah follow me, there's a path a little way to our right but it should lead us directly into Santalune City." The other two nodded, Pikachu hopped up onto Ash's shoulder while Ash returned Noctowl back into his ball.

Running through the woods they came across the path and sprinted down it towards the city. Ash, being more physically fit than the two siblings, was farther ahead than them. Several minutes later he rapidly approached the pokemon center almost rammed into its sliding glass doors.

He rushed over to Nurse Joy behind the counter and placed Latias' ball down on the counter. "Can you check up on my pokemon for me please, and try to keep her out of view," he whispered the instructions to the nurse, and while she raised an eyebrow it seemed she had heard stranger.

Picking up the ball she gave a polite bow. "Don't worry, your pokemon will be feeling better in no time." She placed it on a cart and rolled it into back rooms, followed closely by her Blissey.

Ash leaned against the counter in exhaustion, he had been walking most of the day over here and after that whole encounter, he was just done. When he met up with Latias again he hadn't expected it to go like that all, and he didn't dare think what would've happened if he had arrived too late.

Clemont caught up with Ash a minute later, entering into the air-conditioned clinic with Bonnie on his shoulders. "You know… how back there… I told you to slow down? That would… have really helped… me out." He was panting hard, wobbling as he stood up and threatening to drop the tired girl on his back.

"Heh, sorry about that. Here, lemme help you out there." The trainer helped take Bonnie off the inventors back and set her sleeping form down in one of the many chairs in the lobby. Taking his red cap off and wiping the sweat of his brow he collapsed into a chair next to her. Pikachu hopped off his shoulder and started to sleep soundly in Ash's lap.

Clemont sat down next to him, clearly tired from the day's events. "Ash," he was down to a hushed whisper as to not let anyone eavesdrop on the conversation, "Do you mind explaining why you left out the fact that we were chasing one of the most powerful pokemon in _existence_." He looked almost betrayed that Ash had withheld that information.

"I'm sorry, I really am," Ash replied genuinely, he didn't want to keep it a secret, "But it wasn't my choice to do that, Latias wants to keep her identity a secret as much as possible. I did plan on you meeting her eventually but not at that moment."

"Yet you handed her over to Nurse Joy without a second thought," Clemont deadpanned.

Ash nodded his head. "The Joy family is one of the most respected families I know. They've dealt with more crazy things then even I could dream of. If anyone is going to keep her secret safe it's going to be them." He had encountered what felt like every Joy at every pokemon center, they were nothing but trustworthy.

Clemont sighed and reluctantly agreed. "Still, I never thought in my entire life I would even get a glimpse of a legendary. Now we rescued one that is also your pokémon."

"Well, not really." He scratched the back of his head. "I met her in Alto Mare about four years ago, I never actually caught her but I made the offer."

The inventor looked confused now. "If she isn't your pokémon then why is she here?"

Ash shrugged. "That's what I've been trying to figure out."

The conversation stopped there, neither of them continuing it. It was mostly silent, with the only sounds coming from other visitors to the center and a tv playing faintly in the background. The lobby was a lot bigger than he was used to, with books, a waiting area, and even what looked to be a pokémart.

Ash's foot tapped impatiently while he waited, anxious for any news regarding Latias' condition. The light above the door to the medical rooms all the sudden turned green and Nurse Joy exited from it with an empty cart.

Quietly placing Pikachu down in the chair he was sitting in he ran over to the nurse. "Is she alright?"

"Yes, she's alright." Nurse Joy kept her air of professionalism. "She was only scrapped by a couple of bites which nearly gave her poison but we managed to cure it easily. Right now she just seems to be in a state of panic."

Ash let out a sigh of relief. "Well, that's good news."

She continued. "Yes but there's the problem of having a panicking legendary within my hospital." Her voice lowered. "She kept asking for someone named Ash. Now, I am going to assume that you are Ash, I want you to try and calm her down."

Ash nodded and she directed him towards the left of the medical ward. Telling Clemont that he would be in Latias' room he walked over to the ward. With his hands in his pockets, he tried to think about what he could ask her. At the very least I need to find out why she is here.

**0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0**

Latias absentmindedly traced circles with her claw into the hospital mattress, not caring that she was tearing the cloth slightly. She was too preoccupied with her thoughts, with everything that had happened it overloaded the normally sheltered dragoness.

The nurse had just left, promising to bring Ash to her but in hindsight, she didn't know what to think about it. Losing to a pack of wild pokémon made her feel like the laughing stock of the legendaries.

She gripped the sheets and curled up tighter into a ball as she thought back to what had nearly just happened. At that moment, she had been inches from one of her worst nightmares coming true.

If she had fought back she probably would have been alright with Ash coming, but she hadn't. Instead, she sat there like a Slowpoke and didn't even try to resist. She was too afraid to even do anything after seeing that Ariados.

She heard the sound of a doorknob turning and the door opened into her room. Looking over she briefly caught Ash's eyes before quickly turning away. Soft footstep approached her as he neared closer, she could now feel his warm comforting aura.

He knelt down and tried to look her in the eye but she continued avoiding eye contact. She flinched at some foreign contact but realized it was Ash as he scratched behind one of her feathery ears.

"Latias, are you alright?"

A shiver ran down her spine. His voice filled a desperate sense of familiarity that she needed within herself. However, she didn't say anything and continued to lay there in silence. She could almost feel his eyes on her.

"I see your scar healed over from that night." He was clearly trying to make any small talk to get her to open up. Like before, she laid there and avoided his gaze.

She heard a sigh come from the trainer. "I know what happened back there was scary for you Latias, but bottling it up within yourself isn't going to help you or me. I want to help you, I really do, but I need to understand what's wrong in order to do that."

She buried her head into the pillow, trying to fight back the tears forming in her eyes. She gripped the bed even tighter as her body started shaking slightly. All of a sudden she felt a hand take her claw in a warm embrace, looking over her golden eyes stared back into his brown eyes.

He gave her a soothing smile. "Like I said back there, I'm not going to leave you, Latias. You can tell me what's wrong."

At those words, she let loose all of her emotions. Bawling her eyes out she confessed everything.

'I tried Ash, I really did try. But I couldn't do it no matter how hard I did.' She spoke to him as if he understood generally what her struggle was.

"You tried to do what?" He asked in a confused tone.

'Train! I was supposed to train just like I had promised I would do for you all those years ago and I didn't.' She kept on crying as Ash let her continue. 'After all this time I have done nothing! When that Ariados attacked me I did _nothing _because I was weak! I have nothing to show for after four years of sitting on that island!'

Latias felt his hand run down the feathers of her back in a reassuring gesture. "And?"

'I couldn't do any training in Alto Mare, not with my brother there he wouldn't let me.' She started to calm down as her voice dropped to a whisper. 'So I came back to you.'

Ash raised an eyebrow but suddenly had an epiphany. "I made you an offer to train you whenever I left Alto Mare. You're wondering if it's still up?"

Her head nodded, with tears still in her eyes. 'If you'll accept me as your pokémon, I'll accept you as my trainer.'

The question hung in the air for a long time. Ash stopped his petting as he pondered the request. "Why me though? I'm sure there are a lot better trainers than me out there."

'Because none of them are you.' Latias stated as if it was obvious. 'I haven't known anyone in my entire life that has loved and care for pokémon more than you have. You wouldn't see me as a tool for your own personal gain, you would see me as a friend… as a…' She stopped herself before she said anything stupid.

Ash stared off into nothingness seemingly amazed that she would think that about him. Behind that, however, she could sense the doubt and worry within him.

'Ash.' This caught his attention as he looked back over at her. 'I wouldn't want anyone else in the world to be my trainer. I would rather be the weak dragoness that I am now than have someone else catch and train me.' She spoke from her heart, she knew this to be true.

"Don't call yourself weak Latias," As said, caressing the claw in his hand to try and comfort her, "You know that's not true."

Latias frowned. 'Don't try and lie to me Ash, you know it's true.'

Ash looked away. "But are you really sure about this Latias? Do you really think that I would be able to train you?"

Sensing his self-doubt she pushed herself up slightly and craned her neck so that they were face to face. 'Ash, you are the sweetest, most kind and, gentle person I have ever known. You would do anything to help your friends and family, no matter the cost. You do everything selflessly and without expectation of a reward. There is no one else on this Earth that I believe is more deserving to train me nor more worthy to wield the power that I may one day possess.'

The trainer sat there, seemingly unsure of what to say. His gaze continued to look back into her loving eyes, taking in everything that she had just said. Latias continued to wait there, awaiting his response. Finally, he spoke. "If that's the case, then I would be a fool not to accept."

The dragoness' amber eyes seemed to glow. 'You'll-you'll train me?" She almost couldn't believe what she was hearing. Without thinking she pulled him onto the bed and nuzzled his face. 'Thank you! I promise I won't let you down.'

Ash chuckled and hugged her back. "I think it's more _I_ won't let you down. But don't worry, I'll be sure to make you the strongest pokémon that there ever was."

Latias was happy hearing those words four years ago, believing in herself that she could strive to achieve that goal. But now, hearing those words was like a dream come true. Finally, after all this time, she would show the world just how strong she could become. She would prove that she could become something beyond the weak legendary that she was now, that she could be something more.

The two of them stayed like that, simply enjoying the others company. Latias continued to nuzzle the trainer's face, almost doubting that any of this could actually be true. Wrapping her wings around him she brought him ever closer to her body. However, she soon started to realize the situation that they were in. They were together in a room, alone, in the same bed, and very close to one another.

A bright red blush appeared on Latias' face. 'S-sorry!' She stuttered, regretfully pushing Ash away.

Much to her dismay, the ever-dense trainer didn't seem to understand what just happened. "Is something the matter?" He sat up and gave her a concerned look.

'N-no, it's just that…' Latias' eyes danced around the room, attempting to find any excuse. Finally, she noticed how late it had become, with the only light in the room coming from the moon. 'It's late and you should probably head off to bed, you've done enough with saving me.'

He shook his head and gave her a reassuring smile. "It's not a problem, really." He said as he reached over and pet down her long, feathery neck. "If you need me to stay here tonight, I'll stay."

The dragoness settled down and returned the smile. 'Yes, I think I would like that.' She whispered, laying her head back down onto the pillow as the soft moonlight enveloped her form.

Ash briefly stepped off the bed and pulled over the doctor's chair and sat right next to the bed. While Latias privately wished that he would hop back into the bed with her, she didn't have the courage to speak up and actually ask him to do it.

'I'm glad that I get to see you again, Ash. I really missed you when you left Alto Mare.'

Ash grew a sort of sorry look on his face. "I was going to come and visit you in Alto Mare, it's just that I kept putting it off. I was always focused on my journey and…" He trailed off, unsure of how to continue.

Latias reached over with a claw and took his hand. 'It doesn't matter now. You're here and I'm here. Let's try and make the most of it, huh?' No matter what she did she could not remove her loving gaze from his brown eyes.

He nodded. They talked endlessly through the night, rambling about stories and adventures that they had been on. While Latias didn't have much to talk about, Ash told stories of gym battles, league victories and losses, even encounters with other legendaries. She listened to him talk about the friends he had made, both human and pokémon. The dragoness could have listened to him ramble on and on all night, but soon her eyelids began to grow heavy as she drifted off into a deep sleep.

* * *

**That was around 11,000 words, wow. Thanks for reading this till the end.**

**I hope that this chapter was up to your standards, I tried really hard on this one so I hope it's good. I feel like I may have crammed so much into this one chapter that it's a little cluttered but I can let you all be the judge of that. Also, Clemont is only going to explode like one more time, not going to be a reoccurring thing.**

**Updates might slow down as I start to try and come up with a plan for this journey, I really don't want to just follow the XY anime with just Latias in there. Some episodes I might do or take inspiration from, but those will be in between a lot of original stuff.**

**Also with exams and tests coming up, I'm going to have to divert my resources to those. They will be over in a few weeks, I should speed up then. And one of my friend's phone bricked so I won't be able to talk to him for who knows how long, he helped inspire me a lot and I'm just trying to deal with it.**

**Discord page is on Twitter, the page is ADD_Mimikyu.**

**As always, leave a review of anything that you liked or didn't like. Criticism is always appreciated.**


	5. Training Days

Rising of a Guardian - Training Days

"Speech."

'Telepathy.'

_Thoughts._

* * *

When Latias awoke, she sadly awoke to not seeing Ash anywhere in the room. The center's room was now lit by the bright rays coming from the morning sun, with the bright blue sky just beyond the window pane. Lifting her head off the pillow she saw the only thing being out of place was the doctor's chair, being rolled slightly away from the bed.

_He probably left last night,_ she thought to herself, he needs somewhere to sleep, and in here certainly wouldn't have done him any favors. Hovering off the mattress she scanned the room for any clues as to Ash's whereabouts and found nothing.

Sighing she floated over to the window, quickly closing the blinds and covering the room in darkness. The last thing she needed was some random pedestrian walking by and seeing her hanging out in the room.

Deciding to get a quick peek at the town she was in she lifted one of the blinds so that her golden-amber eyes could peer out into the world. The city was covered in nature unlike the one she visited two nights before, it's architecture was similar as well. People happily wandered its streets chatting about things she couldn't hear, and many woodland pokémon walked beside them.

She longed to be out there but she had to wait for Ash. Just thinking about the trainer made her feel all excited on the inside, she was actually here. It had been so long but she was finally here at this moment, there was no more moping around in the Secret Garden waiting for something to happen. Now she was here, ready to now finally begin the new chapter of her life.

Latias could barely contain the excitement within her, almost coming close to flying laps around the small room to release it. But she stopped herself, instead, changing into her human form in a flash of light and settling down.

_Focus Latias, no need to go around acting like a hatchling,_ she thought.

She was about to leave the room until she heard the doorknob turn behind her and she swung around to face the nurse walking through the door. Seeing her the nurse had a confused aura about her, looking around she seemed ready to call out for someone or something before suddenly coming to a realization and calming herself.

"I see that you are finally awake," she stated as a matter of fact, "I was about to come check up on you." She moved around to adjust a set of tools and tidy up the room.

Latias gave her a nervous expression. While she was normally used to have the Nurse Joy of Alto Mare know about her, anyone else that knew messed with her head a little. She was so used to staying in hiding that it felt a little strange for someone outside her family to know that she was a legendary guardian.

Nurse Joy shot her a sideways glance and sighed. "Can you tell me how you are feeling? And don't pull the silence card on me, I already know you have telepathy."

This snapped her out of her thoughts. 'Oh, sorry. I'm feeling great, thanks for asking.'

The nurse nodded, seemingly unfazed by the sudden telepathic communication. "Well, that is always good to hear." She straightened a stack of papers in her hands before putting them on her clipboard and facing the disguised dragoness. "By the way, your trainer left about an hour or two ago. He should be up in room 307 if you feel like you are ready to leave."

_He slept in here with me?_ The thought made her feel a little warm on the inside that Ash would comfort her even in her sleep. Latias bowed her head in appreciation at the nurse. 'Thank you, I think I will be on my way. I am grateful for your hospitality.'

"It's no problem, really, if you'll just let me do one last checkup I'll…" She didn't bother to listen to her finish her sentence and quickly walked out the door.

Turning right she moved to exit out of the medical ward of the pokémon center, all while thinking about meeting up with Ash in now better circumstances. _How is he going to train me? I know a thing or two about my psychic powers but not enough to make me into a strong battler, I hope he knows what he is doing. Then again, if he doesn't know then maybe we could learn it together._ She thought, a pleasant smile on her face.

She skipped along the last few feet and pushed the door open into the lobby of the center. While the lobby was quiet and peaceful, only a few people sitting in it, the atmosphere was interrupted by a thudding sound coming from the stairs. A few seconds later a small blonde haired girl rushed out of the steps and slammed into Latias' chest.

Latias let out a small gasp of air out of shock and was pushed back a step but managed to recover. The little human girl wasn't as lucky as her and was knocked down onto the ground by the impact. The dragoness kneeled down in front of the girl with a worried expression. 'Are you okay?'

However, she instantly froze the moment she said that. Talking to Nurse Joy had apparently let her guard down slightly, she had just used telepathy with this small girl. To think that in all of her years of seclusion she had stayed hidden but this one encounter would ruin it all.

Thankfully, the girl seemed too distracted with trying to apologize to notice. "Sorry, lady! I didn't mean to run into you I just didn't see you!" She quickly pushed herself off the ground and bowed. "Please forgive me."

Latias stood up and held up her hand motioning her that she was fine; she didn't want to make the same mistake of talking in her mind again. The girl looked up at her curiously. "Didn't you just talk?" She may have heard her speak but she didn't appear to know that it was in her mind. The legendary shook her head, denying the accusation.

Before the girl could question her further a second human ran down the steps, a little calmer than the last one. Like the girl, the boy had blonde hair as well, to Latias they looked like brother and sister.

He glanced over at the disguised legendary before giving the girl a disapproving look behind his glasses. "Bonnie, you need to watch where you are going. One day you're going to get someone hurt with your recklessness." While she did sense a small amount of anger from him it was mainly concern for the child.

She flinched underneath his gaze. "Sorry Clemont, I already apologized though." She looked down, clearly disappointed in herself.

He sighed. "It's alright, just try to look out next time." He looked up at Latias and gave her an apologetic smile. "Please forgive my sister, you probably know how reckless small kids can be."

Once again she motioned that the girl was fine, getting a little annoyed that she couldn't simply just talk to them. While he tried to introduce himself her attention was completely torn away by an aura she sensed. It was a warm feeling, a light that shined brighter than all the other lights, someone that wherever they went gave off a sense of caring and compassion.

Looking up at the stairs she saw a third human jump down the steps, instantly recognizable by the Pikachu that sat atop his shoulder. He looked over at the two siblings but his attention was moved by the mouses rapid pointing over at her. Staring at her with a confused expression he didn't seem to understand his partner's excitement.

She sat there for a brief moment, hoping that even in all of his denseness he would recognize her in her human form. Sadly, he still held the same dumb look on his face, oblivious to what was going on. Rolling her eyes she decided to jog his memory. 'It's me, Ash.'

"Oh, sorry, didn't recognize you with the new look." He shook his head now realizing who she was. "Are you feeling better from last night, Tia?" He asked with a grin.

She nodded and approached him. 'Yes, I woke up only a couple of minutes ago.' Stopping only a foot or two from Ash she gave him a loving gaze, resisting the call from every cell in her body to rush in and wrap him up in the tightest hug that she could squeeze. As much as she wanted to deny it, looking at the boy made her heart flutter with unchecked with unchecked emotions.

_I really need to get this feeling under control_, she thought to herself.

The two seemed to just stare at each other, her within a trance. Latias' smile was practically glowing at Ash while he just looked on. Pikachu on his shoulder seemed to snicker at the action but quite frankly she didn't care, all that seemed to matter was her and Ash.

Unfortunately, their little moment was interrupted by the boy named Clemont. "Uh, Ash, do you mind introducing us to your friend." He glanced over at her as if he remembered her from somewhere.

Ash looked over before realizing that they didn't know who she was and facepalmed. "Right, sorry just," he rubbed his temples as if he was trying to formulate a plan. "Let's go back up to the room, I'll introduce you two there." He quickly retreated back up the steps.

"But I thought we were going to go eat." Bonnie protested, clearly upset by the decision.

Clemont grabbed her hand and pulled her up the stairs. "I know, but this looks like something important to Ash." His eyes trailed over to the disguised legendary before walking up himself.

As they disappeared behind the wall Latias took a deep breath and followed after them. This wasn't something that she was used to at all, only her family along with Ash and his friends that visited Alto Mare knew of who she really was. The nervous feeling returned, amplified by the knowledge that she didn't even know who these people were. _But you didn't know who Ash was whenever you first met him_, she argued with herself.

That much was true, she only revealed herself to him because she could tell that he was someone of pure heart and that she could trust him. While the two siblings didn't hold any malice within themselves, they didn't have the pure caring and compassionate feeling that she got through Ash.

She walked down the hallway and arrived at the door Ash was holding open, the other two having already entered inside. He stopped the dragoness with a hand on her shoulder before she could enter. "They are friends of mine, alright? You don't need to worry about revealing yourself to them." Giving her a reassuring smile, to which she returned with a smile of her own, he guided her into the room.

The only sound that came from the quiet room was the shutting of the door, after that it was deathly silent. Bonnie had moved to collapse onto the bed, Clemont had gotten a bottle of water and sat down next to his sister, and Ash sat in a chair at the corner of the room with Pikachu in his lap. All of their attention was focused on one thing: Latias.

She blushed at the attention she was receiving. 'Can you all please stop staring?'

The reaction was instantaneous, Bonnie fell off the side of the bed shouting something about a ghost, Clemont had been sipping on his water when the shock at hearing a voice in his head made him go into a coughing fit, and Ash and Pikachu looked on in slight amusement.

Bonnie was the first to recover, having to simply jump back onto her feet. "Nobody told me this place was haunted!." She looked around in a panic for any sign of the 'ghost.'

A look of mirth overcame the dragoness' golden eyes. 'But, there aren't any ghosts here Bonnie.'

"See!" The little girl was trying to hide behind her older brother who recovered from his coughing. "I heard it down in the lobby too you all can't tell me you didn't hear that!" Latias giggled at her childish innocence while Ash was holding back a laugh.

Clemont sighed, clearing his throat he gestured over to the disguised dragoness. "There is no ghost, it's Latias that is saying that."

Latias saw Bonnie look over at her before looking back at her brother. "What's a Latias?"

The legendary guardian giggled once again, deciding to end this whole charade. Disappearing in a ball of light she appeared as her true, red and white dragoness form. Her form barely fit within the small room, having to move out of the entryway and into the main part of the room. Clemont had already seen her but still had a look of amazement at her sudden appearance while Bonnie was mesmerized by her.

Latias floated over to the two of them and inspected them, trying to get a better understand of her new traveling companions. Reaching out with a claw she introduced herself. 'Hello, my name is Latias.'

Bonnie was the first to react. "Wow!" She said, reaching out with an arm to pet her long, feathery neck. "You're so pretty!" Latias let out a soft coo and flew behind the girl and scooped her up on top of her back; there she craned her long neck and nuzzled the girl with her ticklish, downy feathers.

The girl's laughter echoed throughout the room as she playfully tried to fight off the dragoness' tickling. Clemont walked around her as he appeared to be trying to wrap his head around having a living breathing legendary right in front of him.

He stopped next to Ash. "So you've known her since the start of your journey?" He asked, reaching out to touch her as if she didn't exist.

"Around a year into my journey." He corrected, walking up to the dragoness and petting behind her feathery ears to which she gladly accepted. "She saved me from becoming a pancake during an annual water race over in Alto Mare. After that, she led me back into her home where her brother almost killed me before she stepped in." Despite the events, the memories looked fond for the trainer.

"Did you ever figure out why… or," He stopped himself and turned to addressed Latias. "I guess I should really ask you. If I may ask, why are you here? Everything that I learned about legendaries is that they are secretive and almost never interact with anyone. I've hear of people that spent their entire lives just trying to even get a glimpse of one and not succeeding, yet here you are."

Latias straightened herself, careful not to drop the girl on her back. 'I was seeking out Ash actually. I had an… incident take place a while back and if I was going to deal with another like it I would need to know how to actually fight. I remembered Ash so I looked for him to train me.'

Clemont nodded, taking in all of this information. His eyes trailed down her body until he came across a noticeable part: her scar. "I'm guessing this 'incident' involves that." He pointed at the scar that ran across the dragoness' body.

Latias shrinked back. 'Yes…' She trailed off, shivering at the memory of what had happened that night. She tried to speak up but choked on her own voice, unable to tell the story.

Bonnie hugged the back of her long feathery neck in support. "You don't have to tell us if you don't want to." She held a twinge of sadness within her voice. "But, we are your friends and we want to help you."

Latias didn't know how much she actually believed the little girl's words, but looking around and seeing the supportive and sympathetic looks from everyone made her believe them. 'Some thieves tried to steal a gem with my father's soul which keeps Alto Mare above the water. Me and my brother, along with Ash and his friends tried to stop them but in the process they shattered it. A tsunami came in its place to sink Alto Mare, I had to rush ahead and stop it or my brother would have died in the process.' She skipped over a lot of the finer details but hoped that they got the general idea of the story.

"Why would anyone want to hurt you though?" Bonnie asked, naive to how the world worked.

The dragoness sighed, unsure of how to explain it to the little girl. In all honesty, she didn't know what drove the two thieves to harm her, her brother, and everyone in Alto Mare. To knowingly hurt so many people in the pursuit of power was unfounded within her mind, how could you destroy peoples lives so that you may gain from it?

She snapped out of her thought, feeling a familiar squeeze of her claw. Looking over she saw that it was Ash giving her a comforting look. "You don't have to worry about that anymore, no one is going to hurt you on my watch."

Those words coming from anyone else probably wouldn't have affected her, but it was Ash. 'Thank you.' She let go of a breath that she never even knew she was holding.

"Well, we are still going to have to be careful now that Latias is on our team." Everyone turned to look at Clemont, he continued. "There are going to be people taking advantage of a legendary out in the wild, especially one just beginning training. Keeping her hidden will do us a lot of favors."

Latias nodded in agreement. Keeping Latios off my tail would probably be for the best, besides, I don't need any more goons within my life. The last thing I need is another Team Rocket.

However, Ash surprisingly disagreed with her. "I'd prefer if it's alright with her to reveal her ourselves."

Several curious expressions looked over at him. "Why would we do that?" Clemont questioned, "No one else knows that she is traveling with us, nor that she is untrained, it would be better to just keep her a secret for as long as possible." The dragoness nodded once again, being hidden was something that she had always done and didn't see any reason to change it.

"I know, I know, but hear me out," Ash said, trying to formulate his thoughts, "I'd prefer if everyone knew at once, doesn't let the chance of some criminals finding out without us knowing about it. Plus, with Latias' training, we are going to have to battle other trainers at some point..

Latias looked back over at Ash. "Why can't we just train by ourselves, the legendaries that I know do this and they seem pretty strong." She trusted Ash's opinion but didn't know how she felt about it.

"It's important to learn how to counter strategies and other strong pokémon," Ash explained, sitting back down in the corner chair. "There's a lot more to a pokémon battle than getting stronger, strategy and tactics will allow you to beat a much stronger opponent. I've won a lot of battles by simply outplaying than brute strength."

The dragoness nodded, weighing both of the options in her head. She set down Bonnie with psychic so she could think better. On one claw, she was used to being hidden and could do it effectively and in doing so they could never have to interact with others. But, it would be a lot of extra work and having the police looking out for them would be nice.

She attempted to pace within the small confines of the room, flying from side to side above the humans' heads. On the other claw, they couldn't stop word of mouth, and controlling her reveal could be useful. And the aforementioned public support would be helpful. Then again, this would mean that Latios would find about her location a lot faster than if she stayed hidden.

However, she believed in Ash and trusted his opinion. He was her trainer and he had been at this a lot longer than all of them combined. She trusted her life within his hands whenever she chose to be his pokémon.

Eventually, flying down she came to a conclusion: she wasn't going to hide. Latias wanted to leave that back in her old life, she was going to have to reveal herself at one point and she might as well make it a surprise.

She turned to look over at Ash. 'We'll go with your idea, Ash. Might as well make our reveal memorable."

He grinned, giving her a thumbs up. "You betcha!"

Suddenly, what sounded like the rumblings of a Wailord echoed throughout the room.

Latias fought back the embarrassed blush that formed on her cheeks, she had forgotten about eating. 'One of you said something about eating, right? Cause I'm hungry.'

The sound returned, even louder than before. The others looked at her with shock.

'Like I said, I'm hungry.'

**0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0**

The group was walking along a beaten path inside Santalune Forest. It was late in the morning by now and the forest was buzzing with activity. Being back in the forest which had nearly killed her certainly took Latias by surprise but she quickly shook the thought away. She had her friends with her, there wasn't going to be a repeat of what happened last night.

"You know, you didn't have to go into the center and eat them towards bankruptcy."

Latias, in her human form, glanced back at the inventor with an amused smirk. 'I know that, but I wanted to anyway.' He rolled his eyes at her while she brought up her hands let out a giggle.

When the group had gone down for breakfast everything was calm, no one expecting the catastrophe that was about to unfold. A disguised guardian and an ever traveling trainer had entered and were famished.

Latias' appetite was massive, able to quickly shovel down the food that her body so desperately needed. Needless to say, the center's staff and patrons were dumbfounded whenever what seemed like a normal girl came in and ate nearly half of the buffet. The only person who could come close to match her was Ash, and even he seemed shocked by it.

Ash let out a laugh along with her. "Come on Clemont, you at least saw the looks on their faces."

A grin appeared as he seemed to remember. "Yeah, I guess it was pretty funny." He fought back a laugh that had nearly escaped his lips.

"Besides," Ash patted Latias on the shoulder, "She's going to need all of it for her training today."

After leaving the pokémon Center in shambles they bought several items that they believed would be beneficial to her training. Potions, elixirs, and berries to help replenish her energy, an item called a power lens that Ash said would help out and, a set of books which she remembered from her old efforts of training herself. She hoped the latter was for reference and not her training guide.

All towards the ultimate goal of challenging the Santalune City Gym in one week's time.

They seemed to be just walking in a straight line through the forest, which began to frustrate their younger companion. "Where are we even going?" Bonnie asked as she drooped down in an over-exaggerated fashion.

Clemont chuckled at her antics. "Don't worry, I'm sure Ash knows where he is leading us."

Ash suddenly stopped and quickly turned around, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. "Yeeeah, about that." He held a nervous expression, trying to avoid any if all eye contact. "I don't really know where we are going." Shooting them all a nervous grin.

Latias facepalmed. _And to think we were so prepared just moments ago._ She transformed and began to fly up into the air. 'I'll look for a place for us to train.' Floating high above the treetops she scanned the surrounding area, having the general idea to look for an open area. Finding an opening in the trees she checked to make sure it wasn't where she was attacked and descended back down to the group.

They all were waiting for her return, awaiting her response. 'There's a clearing over to our right, I'll lead you all to it.'

They followed silently behind her, Ash seemingly disappointed with his own traveling skills. The dragoness lagged behind to hover alongside him. 'Are you alright?' She asked with concern.

The trainer looked over at her, the look may have disappeared but she could still sense the feeling. "Yeah, I'm fine, I was just nervous about how I was going to train you."

She could clearly see through his lie but decided to leave it in memory for if it came up again. 'Well, don't worry; I chose you for a reason after all, remember that.' She reassured, nudging him playfully with her side. He nodded, picking himself up a little.

Seeing Bonnie lagging behind slightly Latias flew over and picked her up with psychic on to her back. The girl whooped with excitement as they quickly flew past the others, them starting to run to catch up with her. Arriving in the clearing Latias looked around and didn't see anything out of the ordinary, some grass, rocks and a fallen over tree. Overall it didn't seem like anything very special.

Ask broke through the treeline, his eyes taking in every detail of the area. "Perfect, good job finding this place Latias." She blushed at the compliment, she clearly didn't see what he saw.

Pikachu ran farther into the clearing as Ash pulled two pokéballs off his belt, pressing the button once they expanded. "Alright, come on out!" He threw the two balls spinning into the air.

They both unleashed a bright flash of energy before two silhouettes appeared.

"Noctowl!"

"Froakie!"

The two pokémon let out their respective calls before taking in their surroundings. Froakie spotted the legendary and hopped over to greet her. Noctowl simply stayed behind and spread his wings to bow respectfully towards her.

The frog-like pokémon stopped in front of her. "Who are you?" He croaked out, looking over the much larger dragoness.

Latias flew down close to the ground. "I'm Latias, nice to meet you." She said gladly. Using telepathy for the dragoness all the time was quite strange and she welcomed any conversations she could use with her own voice.

Froakie let out a happy ribbit and went over to talk with Pikachu. Seeing Noctowl she flew over to meet him, being friends with the rest of Ash's team was going to be important for herself. As she floated over she recognized him from last night, he was one of Ash's pokémon that had saved her.

The legendary bowed her head low in thanks. "I would like to thank you for saving me last night, not many would have done something like that for me."

Noctowl nodded, returning the bow. "Not coming to the aid of one in need would be too cruel, besides, it was the least I could have done for an exalted one such as yourself."

Latias shied away in slight embarrassment. "Exalted one?" She had been referred to by a lot of names in the past but exalted one sure was new.

The owl pokémon brought his head up from the bow and tilted his it to the side in confusion. "You are a legendary are you not? If so you are deserving of the title." He walked over to her in what seemed to be confusion.

"I just don't think that I am deserving of the title." She fiddled with her claws nervously as she said this. "I couldn't even hold my own against a group of bug pokémon while you and Pikachu were able to fight them all off with ease. How could I deserve to be called that right now?"

Noctowl shook his head in disagreement. "Just because you are weak now does not mean that you shall continue to be weak in the future. We all must make our first steps, you are simply making your first steps now." He spoké with a sense of wisdom, clearly more knowledgeable than she was.

She bowed her head once more in thanks at Noctowl, it was nice to know that more than just Ash wouldn't shame her due to her lack of abilities. Hearing footsteps and sensing Ash's aura grow nearer she turned to face the trainer.

He was smiling as he looked between the two. "You getting along with everyone, Latias?"

The dragoness nodded, despite the short introductions and greetings everyone traveling with Ash was kind and friendly. She was a little afraid of everyone outside of Alto Mare after the conflict for the Souldew, but after meeting Ash's friends it was clear her fears had been for nothing.

"Good," he turned to face the owl pokémon, "Because Noctowl here is going to be your trainer in psychic powers."

Latias looked over in surprise, even Noctowl was shocked by the statement. The owl pokémon's species were not psychic type themselves, only being normal and flying. He looked down, she wasn't sure if it was out of uncertainty or honor.

"Why me?" Noctowl didn't seem to care that his trainer couldn't fully understand what he was saying.

Though, Ash did seem to understand. "Your my only pokémon with the psychic ability that could really train someone else. I know that it may be hard for you but I really need you to do it, Latias trusted me with her training and you are the best that I have."

He pondered the thought before looking back up at Ash and nodded. Latias could sense the uncertainty within himself but she could also see that he had confidence in Ash's opinion, much like she had.

"Hey, guys!" Clemont called out to them, drawing lines into the ground with his Aipom arm. "Come over here real quick!"

He seemed finished with drawing his outline by the time the group got over there. In the ground were two circles of equal distance from one another. The letters 'N' and 'L' were drawn into their own little circle.

Ash seemed confused by the demonstration. "What is all of this, Clemont?"

Clemont crouched down near the ground. "I did a little bit of research into how legendary pokémon work." He started. "We don't have a lot of information, only bits and pieces from the few researchers that have interacted with them and the fewer trainers that have captured one. But, it is enough to understand it." He was tapping his chin with a finger, trying to come up with something.

"Wait," Bonnie interjected, looking over at Latias, "Wouldn't she know how her own powers work?"

Latias gave them all a timid smile. 'I was never really taught how anything worked. My brother and I were really sheltered compared to the rest of the legendaries, only receiving a few visits or so. I am about as blind as all of you.' She could sense their disbelief, even to her it was strange that she didn't know how her own powers worked.

Clemont nodded. "Well, listen closely because this is going to affect you the most." He extended his Aipom arm out and pointed at the circle with the 'N'. "This is the average pokémon's energy level, they are able to draw from this reserve as it expands naturally with time and training." He smudged in the normal circle and drew one slightly larger to show an example.

They all shook their heads in agreement, it seemed pretty basic.

"Now, this is how a legendary pokémon's energy works." He pointed over to the second circle with the 'L' inside. "This would be the normal amount of energy that a legendary could take out from its reserve, however, the reserve is much bigger than that." He drew a significantly larger circle around it. "This is the reserve energy in total that they can draw from. Both of these will expand with either a lot of time or heavy training."

"How much do you mean by a lot of time?" Latias asked. She was nearly a century old at this point, shouldn't she have a massive amount of power?

Clemont looked up, adjusting his glasses. "I mean several centuries before you start seeing significant gains.

_Several centuries!_ _With how long I've been sitting in Alto Mare it's felt like an eternity has passed._

"Anyways, normally you are able to draw from this inner pool of energy but you are able to draw energy from this outer reserve." He drew a few arrows pointing inwards to the smaller circle. "How much energy you are able to draw can be unpredictable but controlled with time until the reserve and the energy you can draw from reaches an equilibrium."

Latias' head was spinning with all of this. 'So, you are saying I have a lot more power than I think I have?' It would make sense of how she was able to stop the wave from hitting Alto Mare.

"Yes, but," his tone turned serious, "The power that you can draw may be unstable and could potentially hurt you." His eyes trailed over to her scar. "If what you say is true about Alto Mare sinking, you probably unleashed so much energy that it literally exploded out of your body."

The concerned looks from everyone made Latias a little bit nervous. 'I didn't know I was capable of doing that!' She stared down at the model, wondering how much of her power did she draw from that night.

Ash laid a reassuring hand on her long neck. "You did what you had to do, Latias. I don't think we would be here without you that night." Latias glowed with the comment.

"Nevertheless, we are still going to have to be careful," Clemont said, standing up. "If we do pull from that reserve we need to do it within small amounts, too much can be deadly to you or someone else, too little and it does nothing. Obviously, aim for too little if you have to."

Latias nodded and faced Noctowl who had been silent throughout the exchange. "What do you recommend we start with?"

"Follow me." He stated simply, taking off into the air.

A little unnerved by the brashness of it, Latias waved off to the others before flying with Noctowl. The flight was short, just to the other side of the clearing away from everyone else. Landing, he took a short look around the clearing before walking over to a small pile of rocks. He nudged over a particularly large rock out of the group and in front of the dragoness.

"I'm assuming that you can at least use telekinesis?"

Latias nodded, it was one of the few psychic abilities that she knew how to use.

He gestured with a wing at the rock. "Pick it up and hold it."

Picking up the rock with psychic she held it in place in the air. While the rock itself was heavy she could still hold it up with some ease. Time continued to pass as she held the rock, the two of them not saying anything between each other. The sounds of battling began to echo across the clearing with attacks being launched and hitting their targets, intended for them or not.

She tried to look over at what was going on but Noctowl ordered her to focus on the rock. "So… how long am I going to have to do this?" She asked, now starting to show visible signs of straining as the rock's weight was getting to her.

A smirk somehow formed on the owl pokémon's beak. "As long as it is going to take."

Her grip slipped on the rock as it felt to be getting heavier and heavier with each passing second. One thing was certain: she did not like that answer at all.

**0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0**

Many of the forest's pokémon had scattered at the sound of crashing rocks. Inside a clearing, a dragoness fell to the ground completely and utterly exhausted. Around her lay many different bits and pieces of rubble, many shattered from their original forms.

Latias laid on the soft earth, feeling the cool grass against her sweat covered body. It was relaxing, having been training nearly all day with only small breaks in between to recover her energy. But, none of that did anything to help cure the splitting headache that she was currently having.

Expecting how to learn moves she had seen such as Psybeam or Extrasensory, she was instead was sorely disappointed. Every minute and every hour she had spent training had all been lifting rocks, moving them like this or that or holding them in place. Occasionally she might practice a move or two that she already knew but it wouldn't be too long before they got back to the rocks. She had anticipated something a little more exciting than levitating rocks to grow her psychic prowess.

All the while the owl pokémon looked on, not doing anything himself.

"You did better this time." Latias shot a glare up at Noctowl, but he was unfazed by it. "Let us head back over to the others, we can recover your strength and continue from there."

Grumbling, Latias floated off the ground and flew after him, enticed by the offering of food. After training for several hours at this point she decided to push her luck on the topic of some different kind of training. "So, do you think we can start learning more attacks now." She asked hopefully.

"No, you still have a lot to learn, you aren't ready yet." He stated simply, keeping his pace over to the group.

Latias sighed and regretfully accepted the answer. As much as she believed in Ash's choice for her psychic mentor even her willingness to train was slowly starting to fade. If every day was going to be like this she wasn't sure how much more she would be able to take.

_I know that this builds up my psychic strength but what can I do with it if I don't have the ability to use it._

She looked over at Ash's other pokémon in longing. While she was busy messing around with rocks they had been engaged in combat training, practicing moves against each other to find their best possible use.

Ash and Clemont were shouting orders at their own pokémon, trying to gain the upper hand on their opponent. Without realizing it she had flown over next to Ash and stared at the ongoing battle. Bright flashes of lightning and jetting streams of water collided with each other in spectacles she had only ever seen televised. The fight seemed a lot more interesting than what she was doing.

A hand waved in front of her face as she was snapped out of her trance, coming face to face with Ash. "Earth to Latias, are you there?" He continued to wave his hand to try and get her attention.

Latias gave a small squeak and blushed as she looked away in embarrassment. 'S-Sorry, I was just paying attention to the battle.' The timid dragoness stuttered, trying to find a comfortable position to float in but finding none. Of all the things I could have done that had to be the one to make me look like a fool.

Ash didn't seem to think that. "You seem a little interested in battling." He stated, looking back over at the now-concluded fight. "Want to give it a try?"

She looked up in surprise. 'Really? You'll let me battle?" She asked with visible excitement, her eyes seemed to light up as she looked between her two possible combatants. Despite only having trained for a single day, it felt like she would never reach the stage where she would actually participate in a battle.

He nodded. "Yep, you looked like you were doing a lot of training with Noctowl, I want to see how much it paid off."

Rushing in front of the pokémon trainer she hovered over the makeshift battlefield to face her opponent. Pikachu had been called back to rest while Froakie stood in her way. Clemont applied some potions to the water type in preparation for the next battle while Bonnie walked over to the group now seemingly interested in what was going on.

Ash managed to find a book he was looking for and flipped through the pages. "What are your moves, Latias?"

'Tackle, Psychic, Dragon Claw and Protect.' She stated. While she wasn't exactly proud of the moves that she knew, being a lot lower than the standard number for a lot of pokémon, she hoped this battle could convince Noctowl that she was ready for a bit more. She saw the shiny pokémon silently sitting over to the side, simply waiting for the upcoming fight.

Ash nodded, mumbling the four attacks to himself as he wrote them down in the book. Putting away the journal and brought himself into a stance. "Remember, just because you have a type advantage and more raw power doesn't mean everything in a battle. Froakie is smart and will be able to outplay you."

Latias steadied her breathing and nodded to confirm that she heard him. She looked over at the bubble frog pokémon who was performing some stretches in preparation. "Good luck, you're going to need it." She taunted, feeling confident in her power.

He grinned as he got onto all four of his legs and faced her down. "Just know that when I win it was all in good fun." He taunted back.

All was quiet until Clemont called the first shot.

"Froakie use Bubble on Latias and get in close." The water type pokémon did exactly that, hopping into the air towards her he shot a stream of bubbles straight at the dragoness.

Although she saw the attack coming right at her she waited for Ash's instructions. Right before it was about to hit her he ordered his attack. "Dodge that Latias and intercept him with a Tackle!"

Complying she shot off to the side leaving a very stunned bubble frog in her wake. She sensed that he had thought he bitten off more than he could chew.

Charging at the now falling Froakie she collided head-on with his smaller frame and sent him flying with a cry of pain. She quickly recovered, flying back down low to the battlefield, while Froakie managed to stumbly recover in mid-air and land back onto his feet.

"Great job Latias!" Bonnie cheered, earning a happy coo from the legendary.

"Alright! Now quick, move in with Dragon Claw and don't let him recover!" Ash said, holding out an arm.

Extending her claws with draconic energy Latias flew forward to intercept the water type. Froakie responded by jumping high into the air.

"Throw your frubbles Froakie, stop her!" Clemont hastily ordered.

The bubble frog reached behind his neck and began pulling off a strange material and throwing it at the dragoness. She canceled her attack and easily dodged the attack, not wanting to see the effects if she got hit. The sticky material stuck all over the battlefield.

The inventor grinned, something had gone his way. "Use Water Pulse and chase after her!"

Once more jumping into the air a ring of water shot out of Froakies mouth straight at Latias.

"Dodge that Latias!"

She complied and moved out of the way of the attack, carelessly not paying attention to her surroundings.

"Pound!"

She looked over as Ash's eyes widened. "Get out of there Latias!"

Not knowing his fear she turned around and found Froakie right on top of her with a fist glowing with energy. Her split-second hesitation cost her as it slammed right into her back and sent her tumbling to the ground with a grunt of pain. However, it didn't end as she was now stuck to the ground in Froakies frubbles.

She tried to pull herself out but couldn't. 'Uh, Ash what do I do?' Latias said in a panic, seeing Froakie now back on the ground with no opposition.

Clemont didn't give him a chance to respond. "Good job, now hit her with Water Pulse again Froakie!"

The bubble frog began charging up the attack, going for full power now that she couldn't move anywhere.

Latias could feel the fear within Ash as he tried to form a plan. With no other options, he ordered her best bet. "Use Protect and block that Latias!"

She tried to, but couldn't bring her claws up out of the sticky foam to finish the defensive move. The Water Pulse was now rushing straight at her as she prepared for the worst. The attack hit her and created an explosion of smoke as she let out a cry of pain and was launched out of the frubbles.

"Are you alright, Latias?" Ash asked, seemingly prepared to rush out onto the battlefield to help her.

Groaning the dragoness held up a claw and floated off the ground. While the attack may have been at a disadvantage she still took it head-on. 'What's the plan?' She asked, eyeing the bubble frog who looked happy with his small victory.

'See if you can get him to use his frubbles again, I have an idea.' Latias looked over in slight curiosity, he spoké to her through his thoughts and not his voice. He didn't use telepathy himself, just thinking his answer, but still. Ignoring it she focused back on the task at hand.

"Fly circles around him Latias, get an opening!" Ash ordered, switching back to his normal voice.

Latias flew out from where she floated and began circling Froakie rapidly, making herself a hard target to hit. Froakie narrowed his eyes, trying to see the dragoness rushing around him.

"Use your frubbles like before, let's finish it this time!" Clemont shouted, clearly excited about the prospect of possibly winning.

Froakie pulled a clump of his frubbles off his back and tried to predict where Latias would be next. As the frubbles left his hand Ash ordered her next move.

"Grab onto them with Psychic quick and launch it back at Froakie!"

Latias acted immediately and froze the sticky clump in the air and returned it to its sender. He didn't have time to react as it stuck to his face. The water type struggled to remove it while she smirked, reminding her of her own situation just moments before.

"Great job Latias! Finish this with Psychic and hit him with Dragon Claw on the way down." Ash said, pumping his fist into the air.

Latias shot out the waves of psychic energy as they surrounded Froakie and sent him flying into the air. She heard him cry out as she rushed past him with Dragon Claw and sliced her extended claw at pokémon. This sent him flying into the ground with the dragon type move as the ground cracked from underneath him.

"Come on Froakie, get up, you can do it!" Clemont shouted in worry.

When Froakie did not immediately get up Latias looked on with worry of her own. 'Did I overdo it?' She asked, tempted to fly into the cloud of dust and see if he was ok.

However, when the dust settled it revealed the bubble frog still standing, albeit struggling to do so.

Clemont let out a sigh of relief at the sight of him still conscious. "You still good with continuing Froakie?" Froakie looked back and nodded at the inventor.

Seeing Froakie face her she glanced back at Ash for advice. 'What should we do? I don't want to hurt him too much.'

"Don't worry about that, he'll be fine." The trainer brought his head down in thought before quickly bringing it back up. 'I have a plan, on my mark turn invisible.' He said silently through telepathy.

"Use Double Team and then Bubble, make her think twice before attacking!" Clemont called out.

Froakie started shaking rapidly before multiple different illusions of him started appearing. They all stood side by side as they fired streams of bubbles at the red and white dragoness. Latias decided to entertain them and dodge all of the attacks, she could already tell which Froakie was real due to her psychic powers.

"Turn invisible now Latias!" Ash ordered. On the order, she disappeared from sight in a brilliant flash of light.

A flabbergasted look came over Clemont's face. "When could she do that!"

Froakie rumbled with irritation. He, along with his clones, moved their eyes in perfect sync in an attempt to catch a glimpse of the invisible legendary. "Any more tricks you want to hide from me." He grumbled in his futile endeavor.

Latias quietly giggled behind the bubble frog. Well, maybe just one more.

All of the sudden "she" appeared to the left of Froakie, staring him down.

She heard a gasp of shock come from the inventor. "On your left look out!"

Froakie did not even hesitate as his right hand glowed with energy to hit her with a Pound. Jumping up to reach her he brought the glowing hand back and thrust it forward directly into her face. Only for him to pass through her body as it disappeared before his eyes.

"What?" He croaked in surprise

Latias reappeared and shot towards him in a Tackle. While it wasn't as effective as her Dragon Claw it still would do a lot of damage. Hitting him head-on he flew towards Clemont in a cry of pain. Landing at the inventor's feet he rolled until his eyes revealed themselves to be swirls, a sign of unconsciousness.

Latias floated down and looked around in the air of silence. No one said a word. 'So… did I win?' She asked, twiddling her claws wondering if she had done something wrong.

"You did it Latias, you won your first battle!" Ash shouted with excitement. He ran over to Latias and wrapped her feathery neck into a hug while laughing.

Blushing, she accepted it and nuzzled her face into his. 'I couldn't have done it without you, Ash.' She responded kindly. Her victory may have been small, only against a single evolution starter pokémon, but it was her first-ever official win. Besides, she had triumphed against her most equally skilled opponent on Ash's team.

"Sorry for not warning you about Froakies frubbles, I didn't think Clemont would find a way to use them against you." He apologized, letting go of his grip and taking off his cap to scratch his head.

'It's alright, really.' She said, floating away slightly while trying to stop the growing redness on her face. 'You did your best and I did mine, that's all that matters.' She didn't want to see him be down about something that wasn't really his fault, she got knocked into it she didn't fly into it.

"That was awesome!" She heard Bonnie say from behind. The two turned to face the girl who was skipping her way towards them before stopping right next to them. "The way you comboed your Psychic and Dragon Claw was amazing! Also how you flung the frubble back into Froakies face was so cool!" She made little hand gestures to mimic the battle, seemingly barely able to contain her excitement after the battle.

The dragoness giggled and flew up towards Bonnie to wrap her in a hug as well, giving her a cute call in appreciation.

"You did good kid." She saw Pikachu run up Ash's back before stopping on his shoulder. "Almost as good as when I started out." He stated cockily, pushing a paw against his chest.

Latias raised an eyebrow at the statement, what did he mean by kid? I'm probably several decades older than him right now.

Clemont walked towards the group, having picked up Froakie's still unconscious form. "Great job out there, especially with what happened the night before I wasn't sure if you would be able to keep your cool in a battle, but you proved me wrong." He said while applying some potions to the knocked out pokémon. Froakie appeared to be alright despite some bruises, but those were healing already.

Latias nodded and turned her focus over to Noctowl who had been watching the group from afar. Flying over to him she gave him an amused smirk. "Do you still think that I need to keep lifting rocks now? I am ready to learn some more attacks, you don't have to keep training me like I'm some hatchling that has never used Tackle before."

The stoic expression never left his eyes. While the owl pokémon may be smaller than she was he carried an air of intelligence and maturity that she simply lacked. Finally, he sighed in defeat. "Perhaps I underestimated you a little too much, we start at the crack of dawn tomorrow. I hope that this battle won't be a one time occurance." With that he turned his attention away from them, nibbling back at his bowl of pokéfood.

Latias rolled her eyes at the owl pokémon as she floated back to the main group. _Maybe a little congratulations would have been nice, or not acting like a stuck up Dragonite._ While Noctowl could be stubborn, he was wise and her ordained trainer so she respected him.

A few minutes passed and everyone had packed up what little they had strewn about the clearing and were preparing to leave. Twilight was quickly approaching, darkening the forest. Froakie and Noctowl were already in their pokéballs, resting up for the next day. Bonnie impatiently hopped around waiting to go back into town, Clemont was picking up any scattered items that they had missed, while Ash hastily rummaged through his pack looking for something.

Latias hovered behind the trainer, looking over his shoulder in an attempt to peer into the bag herself. 'Whatcha looking for?' He ignored her and continued to focus on what he was doing, clearly too focused to pay attention to anything else.

She nudged him gently to try and get his attention but he remained firm. Grumbling she looked for any way to get him to notice her, before her eyes landed on his hat. Grinning she floated over and grabbed the visor of his cap with her mouth before flying out of his reach.

It took the dense trainer a second to realize what had just happened. "Hey, give that back!" He rushed up onto his own two feet, Knocking over the bag, and gave chase of the dragoness.

Latias was able to very easily fly circles around Ash as he clumsily attempted to get his hat back. While she lacked a lot of the finer controls of her movement, unable to make sharp turns and the like, her speed more than made up for it.

The chase only lasted a few minutes, with everyone, including Ash, laughing at his suffering. Getting a little bored, Latias flipped around and tossed the hat up into the air before landing on her head. It was a tight fit, her feathery ears having to go through the hole in the back. She winked at the trainer who now appeared to be frozen in his tracks. 'How do I look?' She asked playfully.

Ash stood there was a dumb look on his face. "Uh… you look great." He didn't seem to really know how to respond. "Can you give it back, please?"

"How about," she flew closer and teased him by swinging the hat just out of his reach, "You tell me what you were looking for in your bag." He attempted to reach up and grab it but he was too far.

"I was looking for your pokéball so that I could properly catch you. Now can I please have it back." His response was rewarded with his cap being shoved into his mess of black hair.

'What do you mean by properly?' Latias asked, tilting her head in curiosity while he adjusted his hat.

"It felt wrong to catch you in the state that you were in last night," Ash explained, walking over to his bags spilled contents he picked up a normal looking pokéball. He held down the middle of the button until it started flashing and then quickly dimmed. "I normally have a lot of my pokémon chose to come on this journey with me, I don't like to force it too much. So I thought I'd make our agreement a little more official and catch you, with your consent of course."

He held out the pokéball towards her, the capture button facing the dragoness. While everyone knew what her answer would be, they still anxiously awaited her response. Smiling, she floated ever closer to the capsule. 'Just remember, Ash, this is why I chose you. Don't you forget that.' She said this so that only Ash's mind would hear it, pressing the button with the tip of her nose she was enveloped in a flash of energy and transported into the ball.

Inside felt like she was in a void, completely formless and empty. It didn't hurt, nor was she scared, it was just strange. She didn't struggle as a resounding click echoed throughout the void, seemingly confirming her capture. She could faintly hear Ash saying something about a catch, finding the ability to breakout she burst out from the pokéball.

"-A Lati- Ahhh." Her sudden release startled Ash as her pokéball flew out of his hand. Giving him a concerned look she flew over and helped him to his feet with her claws. He muttered a "thanks" as he brushed himself off.

Latias leaned her head in and nuzzled the embarrassed trainer's cheek. 'Sorry if I ruined your little moment there, want to go at it again?' She blushed at the close contact between herself and Ash.

He seemed to blush a little himself. "It's no problem, really. If you want to stay out of your ball that's fine, Pikachu does it all the time." The trainer didn't move away from the contact, she sensed that he even enjoyed it.

Smiling, the dragoness nodded. 'I think I would enjoy that, it's a little quiet in there.' While she hadn't broken out because of that reason she still gladly accepted the offer. She looked up at Ash's hat and smirked. 'Maybe you can give me one of your hats one day.'

"I don't know about that," he said, moving away from the contact with a look of disappointment from Latias. "A lot of my hats have meaning to me, a lot of memories as well. Plus, most of them barely even fit me, I doubt that they would fit you at all. But maybe I could get you something of your own, just please don't steal mine again." He grabbed his cap, expecting her to snatch it right off his head.

'Don't worry, I won't.' She reassured with a wave of her claw, not wanting to steal something of great value to him. 'But I'll be waiting for something one of these days.'

He nodded. "Let's get going, I think Clemont and Bonnie are getting tired of waiting for us."

The two walked over to the siblings, Clemont was waiting for them patiently while Bonnie's impatience was replaced by a funny look in her eyes. Ignoring it, Latias followed the group out of the forest and to the end of her first day.

* * *

**And that's a wrap, thanks for reading till the very end.**

**I hope this chapter was good considering that you guys had to wait a week longer than normal. Though, I will probably change up my schedule so that I don't die trying to get these out. Also, these next few weeks are going to be a lot of exams and vacations for me so please be patient.**

**I managed to hit 95 followers and 64 favorites, honestly didn't expect that many people to like this story. So thanks for all of your support, it really helps to keep me moving.**

**I would like to thanks Anderson_PKMN and Mystical87. Anderson helped give me some confidence in myself again, and Mystical who managed to beta read this chapter.**

**Discord link is once again on the twitter page ADD_Mimikyu, come join and talk with me if ya want. As always, leave a review of what you liked and what you didn't like. Later.**

**EDIT: made a few small corrections, i'll try to reread my chapters to catch up on these. Also, 117 followers, I really cannot thank you guys enough it means the world for this amount of support.**


	6. Santalune City Gym Battle

Rising of a Guardian - Santalune City Gym Battle

"Speech."

'Telepathy.'

_Thoughts._

* * *

"Pikachu, use Thunderbolt!"

The electric mouse wasted no time after the command and quickly shot a bolt of lightning at Latias. The bolt zipped right passed the dragoness as she barely managed to dodge it in time, the electric attack striking and scarring an unlucky tree behind her. She let out a sigh of relief and turned her attention back towards her opponent on the battle-scarred field.

While she herself was covered in cuts, bruises, and sweat, he only seemed to be lightly panting from the battle. When she had challenged Pikachu to a battle she should have listened to his warnings; but in her mind, he was just another second stage evolution, not too much of a threat. She couldn't have been more wrong.

Her nerves tingled as she could already see him charging up yet another electric type attack, recalling the previous times she had been struck by his moves. Thankfully, Ash seemed to have a plan for her.

"Get out of the way and use Psywave on Pikachu!" The trainer ordered.

Latias once more dodged the attack and fired off a beam of psychic energy directly at Pikachu. At least that's what would have happened, instead, it curved off course and hit the ground sending bits and pieces of rubble flying into the air. She winced as she could almost feel the disappointed look coming from Noctowl on the sidelines.

This battle was meant to be a final showing of her abilities before they battled the gym leader in Santalune city, however, her opponent wasn't allowing her to do any of that. Pikachu was Ash's most battle-hardened and experienced pokémon on his team, something she had learned after they started battling. He was surprisingly able to outclass her not only in power, maneuvrability, reaction time, but also speed. It shocked her that such a small and not even fully evolved pokémon could do half the feats that he was doing right now.

Clemont used her failed attack to his advantage. "Charge in with Volt Tackle, Pikachu! Finish This!"

Electricity began building up around the mouse as he charged forward towards the legendary pokémon. As he ran the electricity began scorching the ground underneath him, leaving blackened grass in his wake.

"Use Protect, quick!" Ash shouted in a panic, eyes following Pikachus movement.

Latias didn't even need the command to use the move but even then she was too slow to bring it up to full power. The electric mouse broke through the weak defense and slammed head-on into the dragoness' body. A cry of pain escaped her as electricity coursed through her nervous system, paralyzing her.

Landing on the ground with a thud, Latias laid there in silent defeat. She curled up her body and shivered as electric shocks rippled around her. She knew that now was the time to admit her loss, there was no use in continuing the battle.

Ash was the first one to her as he kneeled down next to her body. He reached into a small pouch before producing a handful of small red berries. "Here, eat these they should help you feel better." He brought his hand close to her mouth so she could eat out of it as she could barely even move her claws.

The one thing she could thank all these berries for was that they all didn't taste like some horrible herb or medicine. Each of the status remedying berries had their own unique flavor to them whether it be spicy, sweet, or sour.

The feeling of her claws and wings returning to her she pushed herself off the ground with psychic now that she wasn't like a brick. As she moved off the ground he held out his hands in an attempt to help her balance, while it didn't do anything she appreciated the thought. 'Thank you, Ash.'

He nodded and gave her a kind smile to which she returned. "It's no problem, really." He motioned her to follow him and led her over to the group who were discussing what to do next. "I guess I should have tried to warn you more about Pikachu, his looks can be quite deceiving."

'Yeah, no kidding.' Latias muttered, smoothing out her ruffled appearance with psychic. That entire fight she had been tossed around like a bean bag, unable to even get a scratch on Pikachu. His smaller frame coupled with his lightning-fast speed made him a force to be reckoned with. It didn't matter if she was resistant to his main form of attack, he could simply dodge every attack thrown at him.

Latias looked at Ash. 'You don't suppose he could teach me some of those attacks, do you? Maybe give him a taste of his own medicine?' She asked with a mischievous grin.

He chuckled, leaving a smirk on his face. "We'll see about that, diversifying your moveset is going to be important, but focusing on your flying and maneuverability is going to help out overall. Making sure that you can hit and dodge attacks will win you battles. Noctowl can help you with that bit but I might call in another friend and see if he can help you out."

Latias nodded in agreement, while she was fast, she didn't have the same kind of mobility that a trained pokémon would actually have. Arriving near the main encampment she could already see Clemont packing all of his gear into nice compact containers while Bonnie was petting Pikachu, praising him for his victory.

Pikachu noticed her approach and leaned back with a cocky grin. "You know, this makes two legendaries I've beaten under my name now. This is becoming a little too easy, just bring Latios here and I'll beat him for you and get him out of the way; I need a rematch with him anyway."

The dragoness shook her head in disbelief. "Two legendaries, really? Picking on more undertrained pokémon?" While he was strong, no doubt about that, beating a trained legendary was no small feat. And Latios was a lot stronger than the dragon he was four years ago.

"W-What, no!" he stuttered, the smirk disappearing off his face. "The one I fought was at an official league in the quarterfinals, beat everyone in their path. And you are still a legendary, untrained or not."

Latias rolled her eyes but accepted the answer. Despite the electric mouse's general cockiness, he wasn't one to lie about his accomplishments. "Who did you fight out of curiosity?" For a trainer to have two legendaries was quite a surprise, most didn't train together as they often wanted to be the strongest legendary.

"A Victini." He stated with pride, puffing up his chest. "Said they would always make their trainers win, which he did win… cause we tied… it still counts."

Latias smirked. "So a legendary with no training whatsoever and a tie with another legendary are your supposed victories?" She could already feel the frustration building up within him.

"Hey, that's more than most people will ever get, and training or not I still would have beat you!" He sparked his cheeks in annoyance, which in all honesty was more cute if anything.

The dragoness rolled her eyes. "Alright, whatever you say."

Pikachu took in a breath and calmed down. "Also, a quick word of advice: don't put so much power into your attacks that you can't control it, the same thing happens to me with my thunderbolts." He advised.

"I'll keep that in mind, thank you." Latias thanked with a bow of her head.

"What are you two talking about?"

They turned to look at Bonnie's bemused expression as if she was trying to put together what they were saying. Latias laughed and messed up her hair with a claw. "Nothing to worry yourself about Bonnie. Pikachu is just bragging about his oh so great battles." She made sure to say this in her pokéspeech.

"What?" Bonnie was only further confused which made Latias even more amused with her antics.

Before she could continue messing with her further, the resounding click of Clemont finishing his packing caught their attention. "So, your first gym battle here in Kalos is tomorrow," Clemont said, turning to address the group. "You think everyone will be ready for it, Ash?"

"You betcha," He said with an enthusiasm that only he could portray. "Latias and Froakie have been training hard all week, they'll knock this gym out no problem."

Latias gave an appreciative coo at the praise. 'We've been focusing on my psychic powers all week, with a little more training I'll even be able to get Psywave down.' Noctowl considered that since her main typing was psychic that it would be the basis for everything else that she would learn. A lot of work had gone into improving her psychic strength which has been giving results.

Clemont adjusted his glasses in thought. "Well that's good, you should have no problem knocking out a bug type gym."

_Bug_. The word seemed to echo throughout her mind as he said that. 'B-Bug type gym? No one told me about a bug type gym!' Memories of her encounters with Aridoses played out as she began to quiver a little. The last thing she needed to do was fight a professional trainer that solely focused on bug types.

"Did you not tell her that she was going to be fighting against that type, Ash?" Clemont asked.

Ash looked over at him. "I didn't really know what type of gym we were going to be fighting, I was just so focused on Latias' training I guess I forgot to check." The trainer shrugged his shoulders and turned towards Latias. "But you'll still conquer it easy, right Latia-" As Ash faced her, even in all of his denseness, he could see that Latias was less than pleased with the news.

The dragoness was biting into her own neck out of anxiety, trying to find any way to busy her mind or calm her nerves. She felt a hand shake her, to which she ignored. It came again, harder this time, she shook out of her biting and faced the concerned looks of everyone else. 'Uh, is something wrong?' She fumbled in her attempt to make herself appear normal.

Ash simply looked on, unconvinced. "You don't want to fight in this gym, do you?"

Meekly nodding her head, Latias shrank back, embarrassed about her fear. 'It's just, after the Araidos back in Alto Mare and nearly being… killed by an Araidos here, I get afraid whenever I see a bug type. They all have the same features as an Araidos. The same kind of legs, the same type of eyes, their too many legs… brings up bad images.'

"Well then don't fight in there till you are ready," Bonnie stated as if it was obvious. "You shouldn't have to fight something that you are afraid of, I'm sure Ash would understand."

They all looked expectantly over at Ash who held his head down in thought. "Actually," he muttered, catching them by surprise. "I think you should fight against the bug gym."

'You sure about that, Ash?' Latias fiddled her claws as she looked between the others for support, but they seemed to be in agreement with Ash. The dense trainer was the most experienced out of all of them, if anyone knew what to do it was him. 'I might freeze up or I might panic mid-battle, I don't want to lose a battle for you because of that.'

However, Ash shook his head and placed a hand on one of her shoulders like protrusions. "This will help you so that you won't have to be afraid of bugs anymore, you will know that you do have the power to fight off your fears."

At this point, she was trying to come up with any excuse that could justify her not battling. 'What if the gym leader tells everyone about me? I'm not ready yet for that.'

"Gym leaders are bound by a code of anonymity," Clemont explained, adjusting his glasses. "They aren't allowed to reveal anything about another trainer's battle, including what pokémon they used. At the very least they would lose their position."

Latias wanted to argue against it, but she couldn't. Everything Ash said made sense and it was coming from Ash. She couldn't just hide away from her fears and expect everything to just fix itself, that's what nearly got her killed when she arrived in Kalos. Reluctantly, she nodded her head. 'Alright, I'll do it.'

**0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0**

The walk back to town and subsequent dinner afterward was relatively quiet, several straight days of training had worn them all out. Latias personally welcomed the long rest as she had been worked to the bone with Noctowl's training regime. The constant heavy lifting and delicate procedures he required was beyond her in some instances, all for what didn't feel like too much gain within her psychic abilities.

Latias wobbly walked up the stairs to the upper floors of the pokémon center under the guise of her human illusion. While most of Ash's pokémon slept within their pokéballs she was a lot like Pikachu in the regard that she had wanted to stay out as much as possible. It wasn't that the pokéball itself was uncomfortable or anything, she just enjoyed the freedom of having full control over her actions. She could decide where and what she wanted to do, not be bound to wherever the pokéball took her.

She stumbled a bit as she put most of her weight against the railing. Of course, being able to rest immediately after training would be nice; but I have to use whatever power I have left to disguise myself.

The pokémon center's healing stations were small miracles themselves but couldn't cure exhaustion.

While she could turn invisible, that would prevent her from eating any dinner outside of her room. And if someone happened to bump into her within the small corridors of the center, there would be questions that they couldn't answer.

Before she could force herself up she felt an arm wrap under hers and help lift her up to balance. Looking to her right she saw Ash with a smile on his face. "You know if you need help you could have just asked one of us."

Despite the care in his voice she still looked away out of embarrassment. 'I'm doing fine, I just tripped is all.' It was a lie but she didn't need to trouble him with walking to bed, and it was getting harder and harder to fight the blush coming onto her face.

"Come on Tia, I'll help you the rest of the way up." He took on most of her weight, which wasn't an easy task, and helped her up the rest of the stairs.

Each step he took Latias could see him struggling. She was surprised that he could even hold her up, even with her attempting to assist him. The dragoness still had the body of a legendary, built so that with enough training she could dish out and take attacks like no other pokémon. She became even more surprised that he didn't give up, he seemed determined to help her no matter what.

A slow walk later they arrived at their destination. Due to the addition of Latias and her not wanting to stay inside her pokéball they had to get a second room to accommodate the dragoness. Latias had wanted to stay with Ash in his room but Bonnie wanted to be with Latias so that they could have "girl time" together. While she did protest this decision, Ash told her to at least try it out for a few nights. The two of them had grown close over the past week, it wasn't the kind of relationship she had with Bianca but she could call her a friend.

Ash gently laid her against the entrance to her room, stopping to stretch himself. "Maybe I can carry you in your pokéball next time Tia, be a lot easier for you and me."

Latias raised an eyebrow at this. 'Are you calling me fat?' She joked, gently punching him in the shoulder.

A laugh escaped the trainer. "No, you're just… uh… You feel prepared for our gym battle tomorrow?" He said, changing the subject.

Latias nodded. 'Bug or not, I'll be ready.' Ash's talk about conquering her fears reinvigorated her to do her absolute best in this upcoming battle. 'I'll show you just how far I've come, no need to worry about that.'

"Never even thought about having to worry, I know that you will do great. After a good night's sleep, we'll roll through it like it's nothing." His smile widened as he said this, clearly having complete confidence in her.

The disguised legendary returned to smile. He seemed to stand out in her tired eyes, the optimism seemed to radiate from his eyes, his confident smile and posture gave her an energy she never knew she had. Nudging him with psychic he fell into her waiting arms as she embraced him. 'Thank you.' She whispered gently into his mind as she nuzzled her head into the crux of his neck.

"For what?" He asked, oblivious to if he had done anything to warrant the response.

Her grip tightened around him, not even trying to hide her emotions. 'Just for everything. You go above and beyond everything for me, that should be reason enough.'

Ash probably would have tried to hug her back if she wasn't holding his arms within her embrace. "You're my friend Tia, I don't see why I shouldn't do that for you. You came to me for help I don't see why I should hold back anything for you."

The word "friend" lingered on her mind, but why? Ash was her friend yes but the thought of wanting something else was still there, something more. She knew what this meant, what wanting something more than just a friendship with Ash meant.

_Am I actually in l-_

Before Latias could finish her thoughts the door opened behind the two of them. Due to her using the door for support it sent the two of them tumbling into the room with a yelp. At first, she was dazed but quickly came to realize the situation: That Bonnie was standing over the two of them and that Ash had fallen on top of her.

'Ash!' She hissed in his mind, gently pushing him in an attempt to get him off of her as she could already see Bonnie stifling a laugh.

However, Ash didn't see any problem being the position that they were in. "Are you alright, Tia?"

'Yes, just can you please get off of me.' Latias flinched as she could now hear Bonnie giggling at the predicament they were in.

Ash finally decided to push himself off the ground while Latias clumsy got up herself. While she was a blushing mess, even under the human illusion, he saw nothing wrong with what had just happened; all the while Bonnie was uncontrollably laughing.

"Why are you laughing, Bonnie?" Ash asked, seemingly baffled as to why.

Bonnie struggled to slow down her laughter but managed. "It's just tha-"

Latias wasn't going to give her a chance to finish that sentence. 'I think it is time for you to head to bed Ash, big day and all tomorrow!' She interjected, a little louder than she probably should have. She began shoving Ash out the door, hearing Bonnie's laughter pick up again as she did this. 'I'll see you in the morning Ash, goodnight!' At that she slammed the door, nearly making all the doors rattle along with it.

"So." Latias turned around to face the blonde haired girl who had ruined their moment. "What was that all about, Latias, hmm?" She asked in a teasing voice.

Transforming back into her true form she stared daggers at the young girl. 'Nothing happened, me and Ash were just… talking.' She tried but miserably failed to hide the blush on her cheeks.

"Don't give me that, I saw you squeezing him like a lemon when you fell through that door. And I saw the look you were giving each other, it was almost like you two were-" She took in an over dramatic gasp of breath. "Don't tell me that you are-"

'No no no no no!' Latias interrupted her, already knowing what she was about to say. 'It isn't anything like that so don't even think about it!'

Bonnie, however, disagreed. "But you two looked so Cute together! I can recognize when two people are in love and I haven't seen it this much as I have between you two!" She was almost bouncing with excitement.

'I'm not in love with him!' She scoffed all flustered, denying the accusation. The thought did appeal to her but she would never openly admit it. 'He is my trainer and my friend, nothing more than that! Stop indulging in some childish fantasy thinking that we could be together, I came here for training not a mate!' But, her heart seemed to ache when she said those words, almost as if she was betraying herself. Latias started floating towards her bed, she had more important things to worry about besides some supposed feelings for her trainer.

"I have been trying to find Clemont a girl for a while now but he turns down everyone I find!" Bonnie started, following in her wake. "You shouldn't turn down someone who you are not only interested in but he is so obviously interested in you as well!"

The dragoness snapped towards Bonnie. 'You don't know me or Ash, Bonnie, stop assuming things!' She shouted with a snarl, though she instantly recoiled at the sight of Bonnie shrinking back in fear. 'I'm sorry, just... go to bed Bonnie, we have a long day tomorrow.' She mumbled, laying her head down on the pillows.

"But, I can help you," Bonnie said in a quiet whisper.

Latias sighed and floated off the bed and towards Bonnie, picking her up in her claws she levitated over to the other bed in the room. 'Bonnie you have to understand that, theoretically, even if I did like Ash it could never work out. There are rules amongst you humans for loving a pokémon, it is simply not allowed to happen. While I am a legendary pokémon, if I even thought about loving a human I would be exiled from them and stripped of my title. In essence, I would lose not only who I am but my people as well.'

Bonnie looked, well, almost guilty at these words as Latias gently laid her down in the bed. 'It's alright Bonnie, you just didn't know about all of it. Some things just aren't meant to be, sometimes we have to accept that and move on.'

"But, what if you did give up your legendary status? What if you two ignored the laws?" Latias stopped tucking her in when she said this, almost freezing. "If you really do love him nothing should stand in your way."

_Give up my legendary status… all for Ash? I can't do that, no._

The dragoness snapped back into reality, pulling up the blanket to nearly cover the girl. 'We would give up nearly everything we have.' She told, floating in the same place. 'Ash would be an outcast in society if they found out, rejected by almost everyone and a bounty after him. I would be a defect amongst the legendaries, I don't even know what my brother would think. I can't do that to him or myself.'

Latias sighed, this was the last thing she needed to think about right before her first big battle. 'Goodnight Bonnie, sleep well.' With that she flew over to her own bed and laid back down once more, feeling the cool touch of the cloth on her feathers.

"You know…" Bonnie commented, breaking the silence. "You spoké about a lot of that like you did love Ash, huh."

'Go to bed, Bonnie!' Latias flipped the sheet on top of her head with psychic as she heard the girl break out into a fit of giggles. She was lucky that the lights were off to hide her growing blush.

**0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0**

Ash didn't even try to understand what was happening with Latias as the door slammed shut in front of his face. One moment they were enjoying each other's company, the next it was interrupted by Bonnie as Latias became all flustered and embarrassed. He didn't see anything wrong with what happened, it was all a happy but clumsy accident.

_Was she embarrassed to be my friend? No, that doesn't make any sense at all._

He shrugged his shoulders, she probably got nervous about the big fight coming up as he was. Walking down the hall he slipped to room key into his door and opened it with the resounding green light. Stepping inside he could see Clemont sitting on the edge of his bed messing with a pokédex.

He looked up from his fiddling. "Oh, hey Ash." He said, immediately looking back down towards the pokédex.

"Hey Clemont," Ash answered with a yawn, walking over and collapsing onto his own bed. "What are you working on?"

"Latias' pokédex entry. Descriptions, moves, size, weight, all of these I need to correct from a lot of the misinformation that's on her dex entry. I swear people are just making guesses without actually fact checking anything." He stated in an exasperated voice. "Just because you maybe thought you saw one a mile away doesn't mean you can make assumptions about it!"

Ash chuckled at the gym leader's frustration. "You know, not everyone has the chance to see Latias up close, much less she herself providing information about her species."

Clemont rolled his eyes at him. "Still doesn't give people the right to post this blatantly false information." The inventor said. "Like this, someone thought she was four feet in length when in reality she is larger than most humans. And a professor approved it! I'm gonna have a word with them about who they are handing out pokédexs to." He put down the pokédex and fell backward with a groan.

Ash would admit, he had made some bad pokédex entries in the past. "You haven't posted any of that right? I'd rather not have our information about Latias out there just yet so that we could be tracked."

"Don't worry, it's just a draft." He said with a wave of his hand. "The last thing we need is people stalking us for how we managed to get information on a legendary."

The trainer nodded, rubbing his hands into his temples. Keeping Latias a secret was a very extensive process, to the point where he hadn't registered her as his pokémon so that even Professor Oak wouldn't know. Ash had thought that this was a little much but Clemont assured him that it wasn't; the last thing they would want to happen is to be caught off guard by someone trying to catch her. He would probably have to bring in one or two of his old pokémon for protection, at least until Latias got stronger.

Clemont stretched with a yawn and picked up the pokédex at his side. "We're lucky that gyms have a code of anonymity, it'll give Latias that early professional battling experience that she needs before we go public with her." He put down the pokédex on an adjacent nightstand, his face contorted in thought. "You really think she will be ready for this, Latias I mean, even if she is a legendary it won't exactly be easy for her."

"She'll do it, I know of it," Ash said with full belief, his voice not wavering one bit. "It's just…"

"You're wondering if she doesn't win." The inventor finished for him.

The trainer nodded his head hesitantly. "I just feel like… I'm going to be failing not only myself but also her. She came to me for help and if I can't help her win one gym battle what does that say about me." His voice dropped down to almost a whisper, sitting there dejectedly.

"Failure isn't the end though, you've been through five regions you must know that."

He wasn't wrong. Ash had failed time after time in leagues, in gym battles, against rivals, and everything in between. But, ever since his defeat in Unova he had argued with himself if he was actually improving or if he had already reached his peak. He didn't want Latias to have come to a failed trainer far past his own prime for training that he wouldn't be able to give her.

Clemont sighed and took off his glasses. "Let's get some sleep, you look really tired. And don't worry about it, I doubt she is going to leave you due to one failed gym battle."

He flicked off the light throwing the room into darkness, the only light coming from the moon in a crack in the curtains. Ash took a deep breath and sighed, closing his eyes and slipping into a slumber.

**0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0**

The morning had been hectic for the dragoness to say the least. They scheduled a gym battle to happen in the morning, so they would have set an alarm so they could properly prepare right? Well, neither her nor Bonnie had turned on their alarm to wake them up so Clemont had to come rushing out of his own room to get them up not realizing that he hadn't woken Ash or Pikachu up yet either. Not only that, but he had left his room key in the room. No matter how much banging on the door they did they would not wake up, so Latias had to fly outside his window invisible and throw them off their beds with psychic just to wake them up.

A rushed breakfast later and almost running into a girl that she couldn't exactly apologize to they finally arrived at their destination: The Santalune City Gym. It's nearly all green exterior besides the large windows that went all around the gym helped it fit the nature aesthetic that surrounded it.

"We…" Clemont started, attempting to catch is breath. "Are not doing that… ever again." He clearly wasn't much of a traveler or someone who exercised, while they all were tired he seemed ready to collapse on the spot.

Latias could only nod in agreement, they didn't even have any time for her to find a spot to change back into her true form.

"What time is it anyway?" She heard Ash ask. No one answered him as he looked between all of them. "So we don't even know if we are early or late-"

He was interrupted by the sound of a door opening behind them. They all turned to face a blonde-haired, green-eyed girl walk out, distracted by her clipboard in hand. She held the attire of an outdoors woman, a camera fashioned securely around her neck. She looked up from her clipboard to see the group before her. "Ah, you must be…" She quickly glanced down before looking back up. "Ash Ketchum right?"

He nodded and straightened himself up. "Yeah, that's me."

She smiled, still carrying an air of professionalism about her. "My name is Viola. You appear to be just in time for your battle if you and your friends could follow me we can get started right away." She turned around and walked into the gym, not bothering to check if they were following behind her.

They all followed after her, Latias getting more and more nervous by the second. The professionalism about it all was very intimidating to her.

_Maybe this is what Bianca feels like before any exams she takes, she always stresses about those._ She pushed the thoughts of home out of her mind, _no need to get distracted now._

They walked into what seemed like a giant indoor wildlife preserve, complete with all different types of trees, bushes, and pokémon. The glass ceiling along with the massive windows allowed the sun to shine brightly into the room, giving the illusion that they weren't within a massive concrete structure. Viola led them down a path until they arrived at a large open field with marking lines strewn about it, clearly a battlefield.

She stopped at the other end of the field and turned around. "Now before we begin you put down a beginner battle, is that correct?"

"Yes." Ash sounded almost a little bored by these questions like they had been asked before.

Viola nodded. "This will be a two on two battle, make sure you have enough pokémon for the battle. Any attempts to send out a pokémon with a clear power difference will be automatically disqualified and will have to wait until the next day. Now, do you want this battle to be public? This will allow spectators in the stands to watch us." Even she seemed to carry the same tone as Ash but she hid it well behind her professionalism.

"No," Ash replied quickly, pulling out a pokéball without looking and feeling around its smooth surface.

"Well, then," She grinned, now excited. "Let's begin, shall we?" She pulled out a pokéball of her own and sent it flying into the air. "Go Vivillon!"

The ball opened up and released a bright flash of energy, revealing a beautiful butterfly-like pokémon with large pink wings and a smaller gray body. She let out a call of her release and quickly prepared herself for battle.

"Alright, Froakie I choose you!" Ash sent the ball spinning into the air as Froakie appeared in a bright flash of light. The bubble frog landed and went into a stance, realizing that this was a battle. "You ready to do this, Froakie!" Ash called out, pumped for the battle.

"You betcha, Ash!" Froakie croaked, equally as enthusiastic as he was. "Let's thrash this bug easy!"

Latias looked on at the two trainers, no words being spokén between either them or their pokémon. It was clear that this battle would be a lot more serious then the friendly spars she had with Ash and Clemont's pokémon. Even the calls of the wild pokémon in the gym were silenced as if even they anticipated the battle.

Ash made the first move. "Move in with Smokescreen Froakie!"

The bubble frog pokémon did not hesitate as a cloud of thick smoke began to violently pour out from his mouth, covering the field in a black cloud. If Latias couldn't sense Froakies psychic reading she could be completely blind looking in.

Viola was undeterred by the advance. "Counter it was Gust Vivillon, reveal him!" She ordered.

Violent winds began to blow throughout the building, whipping trees and bushes alike around them as the smoke cloud easily dissipated. Behind the black cloud laid nothing, instead, Froakie had moved behind his opponent with the distraction.

Ash took advantage of the gym leader momentary confusion. "Hit Vivillon with Quick Attack as fast as you can Froakie!"

Froakie bounced into the air, his body glowing white with energy, as he charged straight at the butterfly-like pokémon. As he picked up speed, Viola caught on to what was happening. "Behind you Vivillon, dodge it quick!"

No matter how fast Vivillon was she wouldn't have been able to dodge a surprise quick attack as she was sent tumbling out of the air by the attack. She left a noticeable crack in the ground upon her impact but quickly shot herself back up with her wings. Froake, meanwhile, used the last of the quick attack to get safely out of range.

A grin formed on Viola's face. "Not bad kid, not a lot of trainers would start with a non-offensive move." The grin quickly disappeared off her face as she became serious. "However, your simple tactics won't get you far! Vivillon, use Psybeam on that frog!"

The beam of pink psychic energy came almost without warning as it shot out from Vivillon and straight towards Froakie.

"Get out of the way quick, Froakie!"

Froakie hopped out of the line of attack just in time as it tore up the earth where he once stood. A second beam went after him to which he easily dodged but a third managed to strike him as he let out a cry of pain upon impact. A small explosion was created as he rolled across the ground but managing to quickly recover.

_I wish I could pull off something like that,_ Latias thought, eyeing Vivillon, _If I tried to fire off that many Psywaves they would go flying into all of these trees!_

"You alright, Froakie!" Ash called out to the bubble frog pokémon.

Froakie looked back and gave him a thumbs up with a three-fingered paw. "No need to worry about me, I'm good!"

The message seemed to get across to Ash as he looked to formulate a plan. Vivillon could easily keep Froakie out of range of any attacks if he wasn't careful. "Use Bubble on Vivillon! Get it moving!"

Froakie obeyed as a strong beam of bubbles pushed itself towards the butterfly-like pokémon. She easily dodged out of the way of the attack, still keeping her eyes trained on the bubble frog.

"Use Sleep Powder, stop his advance!" Viola ordered with an outstretched hand.

Vivillon began to flap her wings in a rapid motion as small green spores fell off of them. Using her wings she guided them towards the advancing Froakie.

Ash gritted his teeth. "Use Bubble again Froakie, stop those spores!"

Another stream of bubbles flew out to intercept the Sleep Powder and while it took out most of them a few still clung onto Froakie. The bubble frog pokémon began to show a few clear signs of drowsiness as his movements slowed and his eyes drooped.

"Push through it Froakie, I know you can do it!" Ash said in an attempt to encourage him. "I need you to use Quick Attack like we practiced."

When Froakie did not immediately respond Pikachu growled. "Come on Froakie, don't let some overgrown Butterfree beat you in your sleep!"

Whether it was Ash, Pikachu, or some new found power Latias didn't know but Froakie launched himself upwards with a speed only Quick Attack could pull off. Vivillon attempted to counter with another Psybeam but did not anticipate his next move.

"Now throw your frubbles quick!" Ash ordered. "Aim for her wings!"

The Psybeam would have been useless against the onslaught of sticky material being thrown off Froakie's back. It stuck onto the connections between her body and her wings as she struggled to keep herself afloat in the air. However, the limited mobility of her wings eventually caused her to fall to the ground in a heap.

Ash grinned. "Now use Water Pulse, Froakie!" Vivillon was now stuck in practically the same exact position that Latias was once in.

As Froakie began charging up the water type attack Viola seemed oddly calm about the whole situation. "Break free with Struggle Bug, Vivillon!"

The reaction was almost instantaneous, several green streaks of energy seemed to fly out from the butterfly pokémon, breaking her free from the sticky prison and flying straight at Froakie.

"Are you serious?" Froakie didn't have time to react as he was mid-charge of his Water Pulse and was hit dead on with the attack, sending him flying with a croak of pain.

Froakie landed in front of Ash and struggled to back up on his feet. Latias winced at his condition as he was covered in bruises and gashes from the attack, taking it head on had not done him any favors.

"Finish this with Gust Vivillon! Blow that frog into the sky!" Viola ordered instantly, not giving Froakie any time to recover.

Strong winds began to stir up as Vivillon began shaking her wings faster and more violently. It was stronger than before, ripping off the leaves and branches of the surrounding trees and sending them flying into the mix.

"Try and hold onto something Froakie!" Ash shouted, his eyes shooting all over the place in an attempt to find a way to counter the hurricane-like winds.

But it was no use, Froakie was quickly whipped off his feet and flung into the air. His small frame was like a plastic bag in the wind, being thrown around easily without any direction. If the violent winds did not damage him enough already, the various debris continually pounded against him for extra damage.

"Help help help help help!" The bubble frog called out useless as he flailed his limbs in a desperate manner.

'Ash,' Latias asked with a hint of worry, 'please tell me you have a plan.'

"I have one… just…" Ash was gritting his teeth in frustration as he looked for any way to assist the helpless pokémon in the air. "Froakie, when you get close to the ground stick to it with your frubbles!"

A wind current managed to carry Froakie close enough to the ground where he managed to attack himself with his frubbles so that he was no longer airborne.

Viola narrowed her gaze. "Flap harder, Vivillon, don't let him stay on the ground!."

While the butterfly-like pokémon obeyed the order, she was starting to show obvious signs of strain from using Gust for so long. The winds were becoming almost unbearable for the humans as they struggled to not get pushed back, while Latias was normally used to something this high speed. Not knowing if it was entirely legal or not, she placed a small psychic barrier to stop the winds from smashing into them.

Ash looked around confused at first but nodded in thanks towards Latias to which she smiled. "Use Smokescreen Froakie! Hide yourself!"

The thick black smoke returned once more, though it was quickly spread it out it managed to somewhat hide the bubble frog's location. The winds started to slow down as the Gust weaken in power. The last of the debris was flung out of the battlefield, leaving an exhausted Vivillon and a black cloud of smoke remaining.

All was quiet as no one spoké a word within the tense silence. Even Latias had forgotten that she could simply check and see if Froakie was actually conscious. They all knew that if Froakie had survived the onslaught of winds that Vivillon would be easy pickings for him.

Suddenly, a beam of bubbles erupted from the black cloud heading straight at Vivillon. The butterfly-like pokémon seemed too tired to actually dodge out of the way and took the hit directly in the body and was sent spiraling down towards the ground. She was bruised and soaked by the attack but it seemed Froakie was not done just yet as he jumped out of the cloud and charged a pound attack aimed right for the Vivillon. The attack hit the already downed pokémon directly in the head as she bounced with the force of the attack. Froakie collapsed into a sitting position in labored breathing right next to Vivillon, she had swirls in her eyes indicating that she was unconscious.

"You did it Froakie, you won!" Ash cheered, his enthusiastic attitude radiating off of him.

"Yeah!" Froakie croaked in an exhausted tone, raising his paws into the air and falling flat on his back.

Latias giggled at the bubble frog's reaction.'Great job out there you two!' She cheered in their minds.

Viola pulled out a pokéball and returned the now unconscious Vivillon to its ball. "Great job on your victory, Ash. But that battle isn't over yet, now is it?" She pulled out a second ball from her belt and sent it flying high into the air. "Go Surskit!"

A four skinny legged, blue bodied bug type with a yellow top appeared in a flash of light. Its appearance wasn't exactly like the Ariados Latias encountered a week prior, but the few similarities still spooked her a bit.

"Alright Ash, Let's do this. I can do this all day." Froakie said, throwing a few punches into the air that threw him off balance and sent him face first into the ground.

Ash rolled his eyes and returned Froakie back to his pokéball, and turned to face Latias. "Looks like you are up, Tia." The smile and look returned a confidence that the dragoness would need for the battle.

"You'll do great Latias, I know it," Bonnie whispered from behind her, very clearly excited by the prospect of her battle.

"Focus on the battle Tia and you will do great." Clemont advised.

A pokéball on Ash's belt burst open, earning a "What the" from Ash, and revealed Noctowl who cawed upon his release. Ash was about to return him back to his ball before the owl pokémon stopped him with a wing. "I just want to watch my pupil fight, that is all."

Ash looked over at Latias, silently asking for a translation. 'He just wants to see me fight, Ash.' She answered.

The sound of someone clearing their throat came from across the field. They all turned their attention to Viola who was impatiently tapping her foot. "Is this Noctowl your next pokémon, Ash?"

Ash sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. "Uh, no, sorry. I'll bring her right out." He gestured with a hand to the battlefield while looking at Latias. "It's now or never, Latias."

Latias nodded and stepped out in front of Ash, still in her human form. 'I'm ready Ash, lets show her how much we've trained!'

"Alright, Latias I choose you!" Ash said, preparing for battle.

What Ash probably expected to happen would be that Latias would have instantly transformed. Instead, she simply stood there as a human trying to hold the determined look on her face without bursting into laughter. The frustrated look on Viola's face certainly didn't help as the dragoness could feel a smile edging on the corner of her mouth.

"Latias!" She heard Ash hiss from behind her. "You can drop the illusion now!"

Latias turned around and gave him an innocent smile, official battle or not this was too good of an opportunity to pass up. And the look on Ash's face was priceless, his whole face was heating up as he tried to avoid the burning gaze coming from Viola. Bonnie was currently in an uncontrollable fit of giggles while Clemont just shook his head at the whole situation, but she could see a smile underneath the stoic facade.

"Ash," Viola started, clearly over with the games Latias was playing. "Tell your friend to get off the field before I have to end this battle prematurely, I have other challengers to attend to."

Latias turned around and tilted her head in confusion at Viola, struggling to keep her puzzled look. When it looked like she was about to call off the match she dropped the whole illusion.

Disappearing and reappearing in a ball of light, Latias revealed her true dragon form to the gym leader. She let out a defiant cry towards Viola and her Surskit as she wore her most serious look, seeing their clear shock at a supposed human girl transforming into a legendary pokémon. Viola's green eyes seemed like they couldn't even process what she saw in front of her, clearly not believing Ash when he said he chose Latias. Surskit looked like it was going to shake its little legs off at the sight of the dragoness, Latias wanted to comfort her but now was not the time or place.

"A-A Latias?" Viola stuttered. "Don't you think that's a little too much for a beginner battle?"

'I'm not exactly that strong.' Latias explained to her, giving the gym leader her second shock in a single minute. 'Right now, I'm at the level of a beginner pokémon.' She giggled at seeing the gym leader's bewildered expression to her telepathy.

Viola shook her head, more out of disbelief if anything. "R-Right just…"

"What's wrong, Viola?" Ash asked with a grin. "Don't you have other challengers to this gym? We should hurry up now if you want to fight them."

Viola chuckled at the joke. "You are right." She took a stance, now out of her shocked state. "Just because you have a legendary doesn't mean you are going to win, better prepare for the fight of your life! Be ready to give everything you have, Surskit!"

These words seemed to bring Surskit out of her fear and strode forward with confidence.

"Your move, Ash."

Latias craned her long neck to look at Ash. 'What do you think, Ash?'

'Small and mobile, a lot like Pikachu…' He pondered, speaking through their telepathic connection.

She smiled at this, he may just be thinking but it felt so much more personal when it was just the two of them.

'We need to make every hit count, you may be fast but I wouldn't doubt Surskit's movement.' The trainer explained. 'Use Dragon Claw, let's see if we can surprise her.'

Latias nodded and shot off like a rocket towards Surskit, draconic energy already forming on the tips of her claws. Due to the straight line of travel she was able to get there and no time, with Surskit and Viola barely even able form a look of surprise as she struck the pond strider pokémon at high speed. A cry of pain escaped Surskit as she was launched off her feet by the sheer force of the attack.

"What! Surskit no!" Viola cried out.

Personally, Latias was already tired. Going from zero to that fast had drained a lot more energy that she thought it would have.

'Grab her with psychic and throw her into the ground, Latias!' Ash ordered, not uttering a tangible word.

Viola seemed to notice her about to attack once more. "Use Ice Beam Surkit, quick!" She called out, attempting to keep her cool.

Latias had to break her concentration as a beam of pure cold just barely missed her. She shivered as she could feel the blistering cold coming off of that attack. _That was too close,_ She thought.

Surskit was injured badly but had fully recovered and was on the ground as Viola ordered another move. "Use Ice Beam on the ground Surskit, you know what to do!"

Surskit began to freeze the ground she stood on as she effortlessly glided on it to freeze more and more portions of the battlefield. The pond skater pokémon was certainly living up to its name as it rode the ice around fast enough where Latias had trouble keeping track of her. The temperature began to noticeably drop as the dragoness felt her susceptibility to cold kicking in.

"Don't let her finish that ice field, Latias!" Ash called out, forgetting about their element of surprise. "Strike her with Dragon Claw!"

Latias obeyed and moved to intercept Surskit, the familiar energy already extending her claws beyond their normal reach. She closed in and moved the claw in an uppercut like fashion, tearing up the ground in its path. Surskit, however, managed to dodge with a quick change in direction while Latias flew by without a hit.

"What's wrong?" She taunted as she froze the battlefield. "Aren't you known for your speed?"

Latias growled as she stared daggers at the opposing pokémon. "I'll show you." She mumbled under her breath, not wanting to show it was getting to her.

"Try and use Psywave Latias!" Ash ordered as he seemed to try and keep his cool.

Latias focused her mind and unleashed the stream of psychic energy, trying to keep its power down per Pikachu's advice. Unfortunately, she failed at that and the wave of energy flew out in Surskits path but not on her. Upon coming into contact with the ground it practically erupted with how much energy she actually put into it, not hitting Surskit but stopping her immediate path. A small crater was left behind as Surskit canceled the freezing to do an instant 180.

"Good enough Surskit," Viola called out, clearly satisfied with the result.

Nearly the entire battlefield was covered with a thin sheet of ice. While this wouldn't affect Latias' movement at all, it gave Surskit a massive boost in both speed and evasiveness. Latias shivered once more as she could see her warm breath in the cold air.

"This is not good." She heard Ash mumble through her sensitive ears. "This is not good at all."

'What do we do Ash?'

Ash looked up at her. 'We have to knock out Surskit and fast. That Ice Beam will take you out fast so avoid it at all costs. Try and stay focused, every second is going to count here.'

Latias nodded and turned her attention back to the battle. Her opponent may seem non-threatening at first glance but clearly, it meant business.

"Use Ice beam on Latias, Surskit!" Viola ordered. "Keep up your speed and don't let her hit you!"

"Dodge that quick, and counter any with Protect that get too close!" Ash shouted.

Latias dodged the first Ice Beam with relative ease but, as Surskit started to circle her, more and more beams of ice came at her. A few she had to start deflecting with Protect as she could barely move from the onslaught of attacks, even Ash didn't seem to know what to do in this situation.

'Ash, I'm going to need a little help here!' She called out for help but got no answer in response.

She held a protect for a little longer than she should have and was hit from the side by a beam of pure cold. It felt almost blistering as she let out a yelp of pain and felt her psychic connection waiver, falling to the ground in a heap.

"No, Latias!" Ash cried out. "Get up and try and use Dragon Claw!"

She managed to tuck in her neck to avoid an Ice Beam aimed straight for her head as she shot towards Surskit to deliver another Dragon Claw. But, like last time, she easily dodged out of the way leaving Latias slicing through empty air.

"If I defeat you, does that mean I get to be a legendary?" Surskit taunted, sliding by and preparing yet another Ice Beam.

Latias narrowed her eyes at her opponent, not liking this bug type less and less.

"Dodge that and grab her with Psychic Latias!" Ash called out with a hand.

Latias rolled to the right, out of the way of the Ice Beam, and attempted to grab the speedy bug/water type with Psychic. However, she easily slipped out of her grip as the dragoness groaned in annoyance. No matter what she did Surskit would always dodge out of the way at the last second.

A second Ice Beam managed to strike Latias' neck as she cried out in pain. She could feel the ice hardening on her body, making her more and more sluggish as time went on.

"Stop your attack and use Sticky Web on Latias!" Viola called out, switching up her strategy. "We need to finish her off for good."

Latias knew where this was going, and she did not like it one bit.

"You have to dodge those Latias, please!" Ash cried out in desperation.

However, she was too tired and too cold to actually move. The dragoness did attempt to move out of the way but to no effect as she was covered in the sticky material. This brought back memories to her that were the last things she would want to relive. The feeling of being trapped, about to be eaten alive by a pack of bug types. All she wanted to do was lay down and accept it, she had lost.

"Bring her down with Tackle and finish this with Ice Beam!" Viola ordered, almost giddily.

Surskit seemed to move almost casually towards her, taunting her in a way.

"Come on Latias, pick yourself up!" She heard Pikachu call out.

"You have to focus Latias, you've come too far now!" Bonnie shouted, trying to cheer for her.

"Latias, you can't give up now! You can't… I…" Ash didn't know what to say but paused, as if a stroke of genius came across him. "Use Psywave, any strength you can pull out use it! Direct it right at Surskit!"

Latias' eyes shot open at the plan, she knew exactly what Ash was thinking. She started focusing all the energy she could pull from this invisible reserve that Clemont had told her about.

"Stop slacking and move in Surskit! Don't let her get off that attack!" Viola shouted, realizing what Ash had in mind.

While Surskit didn't know what was going on she picked up her trainer's sudden panic and started racing towards Latias. Right when Surskit was about to jump and use Tackle, Latias finished charging the move and fired off the attack.

The attack as expected curved straight downwards towards the ground and made it erupt like a volcano. Latias had to put up a protect as chunks of rock and ice were sent flying into the air and a cloud of dust rose to cover the now destroyed field. Surskit herself was launched into the air, even taking some of the force of the attack as she was left badly bruised.

"Now grab that debris with Psychic and throw it at Surskit, Latias!" Ash ordered.

With a new found hope for a chance at victory, she pulled out whatever power she could to accomplish this goal. Sensing Surskits faint psychic signal she hurled whatever rock and ice she could find at the reading. Hearing a sharp cry of pain through the cloud she stopped her assault and waited for the dust to settle.

When the dust cloud cleared it revealed the sizable crater that Latias had formed in the ground and Surskit lying on the ground, unconscious. Latias let out an exhausted sigh and shut off her levitation, falling to the ground with a small thud but still conscious nonetheless.

Viola clapped her hands together and smiled. "I guess that settles it then Ash, congrats on your victory to both you and Latias."

"You did it, Latias!" Ash exclaimed in excitement, running over the ice-covered field to her. "You managed to beat her- Woah!" In all of his hurry, he managed to slip on the ice and fall forward, flinging Pikachu off his shoulder and sliding up next to her.

The dragoness gave her trainer a tired smile. 'Hey.' She said between giggles, laughing at his general clumsiness. That and she was ecstatic on the inside, she won this for him, proven that she wasn't just some weak pokémon.

"Uh, hey." He replied, deciding to laugh along with her. He picked himself up, nearly slipping again but managing to balance himself just in time.

"You don't think you could have maybe watched your step, Ash?" Pikachu grumbled, crawling himself out of the crater Latias had made.

"Sorry, buddy," Ash said, sheepishly rubbing his head, bringing his partner back up to his shoulder. "Won't happen again." Pikachu rolled his eyes but accepted the answer.

"Good job Latias you were amazing out there!" Bonnie squealed as she nearly tackled Latias on the ground. "You sure showed that bug who was boss!"

Latias nodded, groaning a little from the sudden impact. 'Thanks Bonnie, really appreciated.' The legendary managed to pick herself off the ground and hover, taking a lot more energy than she had anticipated. Ash was of course there to try and support her, which she gladly accepted.

"Fantastic work out there, Latias." Clemont applauded, as he approached them. "I will admit that her Ice Beam even threw me in a bit of a loop, especially using it as a movement tool."

Latias acknowledged the praise but all she really wanted was to get this web off her and get to a pokémon center.

Noctowl flew over and landed next to her, giving her that same stoic expression that he always gave off. "Impressive." He stated simply, not bothering to say anything else.

"Really?" Latias deadpanned, giving the shiny pokémon a disappointed look. "Don't you have anything else to add to that?" Noctowl was her psychic trainer, she was hoping that he could provide a little bit of insight or advice of her battle.

He continued to stare at her, but she swore she could see a bit of pride within those stoic eyes. Latias sighed and looked down, she didn't know what he was feeling half the time, even with the ability to sense emotions.

Ash nudged her side. "Don't worry, he means well I promise."

"I will say, Ash, you were a most unique opponent," Viola stated, clipping a pokéball back onto her belt as she walked around the crater. "Coming into a beginner level battle with a legendary pokémon was certainly a surprise. Not only that but a legendary that has complete and total trust in the commands you made."

Ash looked over in confusion. "What do you mean by that?"

"I thought you would have known in whatever research you did about legendaries and their habits. They are often stubborn to their trainers and think that they know what is best, only coming to them for training techniques." She stopped near the group and started to pull something out of her pocket. "Both Froakie and Latias showed their confidence in you, not panicking even though all hope for victory seemed lost in the end. For that and managing to defeat me you have earned yourself the bug badge." She held out her hand and revealed a bronze and green colored badge shaped like a bug.

Grabbing the bug badge Ash held it up in a hand. "Alright, we got the bug badge!" Ash shouted with excitement as Latias wearily cheered along with him.

"I will leave you with a warning, however," Viola stated cryptically, immediately grabbing their attention. "Be careful with how you use Latias' power, she is strong and that strength may one day end up getting someone seriously hurt."

'But, I would never want to do that.' Latias said, now getting nervous. 'What makes you think I would ever want to hurt someone like that?'

Viola sighed. "I don't doubt that, however, it is if you can control that power." She gestured to the crater that was now lodged deep into the battlefield. "Field may be filled, tools repaired, homes rebuilt, but if this were to kill someone you can't bring them back. I don't say this to scare you but to make sure you are careful with how you use your power."

The dragoness shrank back but nodded. 'R-Right.'

"But Latias won't ever do that," Bonnie said, not fazed by the speech. "She is too careful to do something like that."

Ash started scratching behind Latias' right ear "Yeah, she'll be careful, don't worry."

Latias wanted to believe them but the thought still lingered in her mind.

"Now that all of that is out of the way." Viola held up her camera. "Do you want to take a picture, I like to have one of each team that I fight. Captures the memory you know?" She said with a wide smile.

They all sweatdropped. Could she really be asking them to take a picture after saying that?

**0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0**

They ultimately declined her offer of a picture, Clemont still keeping the excuse of wanting to keep her a secret. Though, as they left Latias promised her they would give her one at some point. Latias finally got the web off her body and a nice rest at the pokémon center, almost topped her win at the gym but not quite. The healing did its work, nearly curing her of all of her injuries besides the now slight burns from where Surskit's Ice Beam had struck her.

Latias was now sitting with the others in her human illusion at a local cafe within the city. When Ash had suggested dinner to the famished dragoness she practically jumped out of her bed and dragged him there.

The city seemed even more beautiful at night, the dusk lighting combined with street lamps and the partially starry sky created a warm and serene atmosphere. People and pokémon walking by through the paved streets created a lively area of chatter and laughter. Besides her initial encounter with wild pokémon, everything about Kalos seemed friendly and inviting, she felt like she could belong here as she did in Alto Mare.

Latias bit into the Tarousburger she was currently eating, savoring its flavor and texture. She hadn't cared too much for the "Kalos classics" as Clemont and Bonnie put it, opting to go for something she knew she would enjoy at the moment. Nothing in her mind compared to a burger, besides pecha berries of course.

Clemont seemed to be giving her a strange look. "It still baffles me how you and Ash both have the same exact eating habits."

Latias finished her last bite and looked over at him. 'What do you mean by that?'

"You are, well, a legendary and he is a human, you two should not be eating the same amounts," Clemont stated and pointing over to Ash. "I understand you, Tia, but Ash doesn't make any sense to me."

"It's all in the training," Ash explained, putting down his fork. "pokémon training is a lot of work, I need the energy."

Clemont gave him a look like he didn't know what he was talking about. "Ash, you don't even do a quarter of the work that Latias does in a day, how would that make any sense?"

"Some things science just can't explain, Clemont." Ash moved back to his food, finding his point made.

Clemont rubbed his chin in thought. "Maybe I could make a device to-"

"No!" Ash and Bonnie both shouted in unison, making him flinch backward.

Latias stared at the two confused, not understanding the near explosive reaction by the two. "Someone mind explaining what just happened?"

Ash sighed. "You'll find out eventually."

Latias wanted to push for it further but gave up, she'd find out why sooner or later.

"Hey, Lati- I mean Tia," Latias turned her attention over to Bonnie who had called out to her. "Why don't you eat something here from Kalos, you've eaten like five burgers at this point, only counting tonight!"

Latias scoffed. 'Because this is infinitely better than anything you could provide here, and I'm not seeing anything with pecha berries here.' She took a sip of her water. 'I bet a human would taste better than what you could cook up here.'

"What!" Bonnie shouted, a little too loud drawing the attention of nearby patrons.

"Shh! What have I told you about behaving in public, Bonnie?" Clemont scolded.

"But, but, she said-"

'Relax Bonnie, I haven't eaten a human and no one I know has either.' Latias said, trying to calm her down. But, a mischievous side rose up inside her. 'But I wonder what one would taste like?' She muttered, eyeing Bonnie with a hungry look.

The little girl chuckled nervously. "I don't think I would taste very good, right?" She was starting to scoot away from her slowly.

'But, if you had to recommend a part,' The dragoness said as she licked her lips. 'What would you start with?'

The fear in her eyes got to her and she started bawling laughing, though oddly silent as a perk of her human illusion. She slammed her fist on the table, making all the dishes rattle with it. Ash and Clemont seemed to understand the joke but she could tell they were nervously laughing as well.

"Relax Bonnie, It's just a joke, right Tia?" Ash said looking over at her.

'Yeah, sure' Latias waved him off with a hand. 'I'm just trying to get a kick out of you… and maybe a leg.' She ruffled the nervous girl's hair and laughed once more.

"Uh, hello?" A voice interrupted before any of them could respond.

They all looked over at the direction of the voice and came face to face with a young woman. She had neatly combed blonde hair with a proper red outfit and hat. She stood there nervously with her hands clasped together.

She turned her attention to one of them. "Are you Ash Ketchum?"

There was a bit of hesitation from him, and Latias couldn't blame him. Some random girl coming up and somehow knowing who he was is a little unsettling. She sensed more nervousness from this girl if anything rather than malice.

"Uh yes, who are you?" Ash asked, a little confused.

"Oh, sorry." She apologized, appearing a little flustered. "My name is Serena." She replied sweetly.

**0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0**

**That's a wrap folk, thanks for reading till the end.**

**I worked pretty hard on this chapter but it does have a mistake which I will confess to. The ending of Latias vs. Surskit was very similar to another fight ending in ANC, I was worried if I changed it I'd just make it worse. I'm sorry, I'll try and do better next time.**

**My vacation and exams went well, I've started summer break but don't think that's gonna be like a chapter a week again. This will get finished, that I promise.**

**Also, I think this is my first cliffhanger. It took me a while.**

**And thank you for your support, I know it may seem redundant but it really means a lot. As always, leave a review of what you liked or didn't like. I won't be replying to reviews in my story unless it is a big issue that I think needs to be addressed, so an account works best so I can PM you.**

**It has been Guzma, see you all next time.**


	7. A New Yet Old Friend

Rising of a Guardian - A New Yet Old Friend

"Speech."

'Telepathy.'

_Thoughts._

**EDIT: Chapter 8 has been removed for some glaring problems and blatantly wrong information. I will rewrite it and work to correct it to make sure it doesn't happen in the future. I am sorry I let you all down like that.**

**0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0**

"Nice to meet you, Serena," Ash replied in a friendly tone, offering her a handshake. "That's Clemont, next to him is Bonnie, and to her right is Tia." As they were introduced they greeted her all with varying levels of excitement. Bonnie was her usual happy self while Clemont and Latias held a bit of hesitation within them.

Moonlight had taken over the night sky by the time Serena had interrupted their dinner, cool light coming from the moon and stars while a brighter light came from the surrounding lamps. The chatty atmosphere that had existed once before had quieted down as more and more people left to slumber. A cool wind brushed over them as they tried to figure out this blonde-haired girl.

"Nice to meet you all." Serena gave them all a kind smile as she gave a polite bow. "Do you mind if I sit here, or?" She said as she started to slowly pull up a chair.

"Sure you can," Ash said before any of them could respond.

She nodded and pulled a chair from an adjacent table a little too fast as it hit the table with a bang, muttering an apology as she sat down. With her hands in her lap adjusting her red skirt, she held a nervous smile as they all looked on at this mystery girl.

An awkward silence hung in the air as none of them spoke, no one knowing exactly what they should say. What little sound around them seemed to be amplified with the stillness. While everyone was more likely than not confused, Ash felt the most confused out of all of them, here some random girl comes over knowing his name, yet he didn't have a clue as to who she was.

Finally, Serena decided to break the long silence. "Do you… happen to remember me, Ash?" she asked with some hesitation.

At these words, the group's attention was immediately shifted over to Ash. He shuffled in his chair under their gaze, quite uncomfortable with being the center of attention in this matter. "Uhh… I don't think so?" His confusion was only growing by the second.

"It was at that summer camp in Kanto," Serena pushed, leaning forward in her seat. "You do remember, right? You helped me when I injured myself in the forest, you even gave me a handkerchief that I never returned to you." She shoved a hand into her pocket and pulled out a white cloth and handed it over to him.

Ash shrank back a bit, nearly disturbing the sleeping Pikachu underneath his chair, but accepted it and inspected it. It was a small of cloth, clearly worn with age, but he could still clearly see the name "Ash K." embroiled into the fabric. The trainer's brain felt like it was about to shut down, just who was this girl?

'Alright, how about a little meeting, like now?' Latias asked through telepathy, clearly sensing his discomfort. 'And don't bother about saying anything, just think it towards each other, I have a telepathic connection between us all.'

'Wow,' Bonnie echoed through their minds. 'This is so cool! Why don't we do this more often?' She giggled aloud, making Serena give her a weird look.

'It takes a lot of energy to connect four individual minds to one another,' Latias explained, sounding a little strained. 'It isn't exactly a walk in the park to do this.'

Clemont rolled his eyes at his little sister. 'I guess we should make this quick then, first let's determine one thing right off the bat: Ash, how does this girl know you? She acts as if she knows you as a person.'

'I feel like I've never met her in my life, honest.' Ash said, trying to dig deep into his memories to see if she ever came up. 'I might have forgotten about her, but I don't remember anything that could involve her at all.'

The group sat there in deep thought, some more so than others.

'I have an idea!' Bonnie shouted excitedly in their minds as they all looked over at her. 'You've traveled and participated in a lot of leagues, right Ash?'

'Uh, yeah.' Ash didn't really understand where this was going.

Bonnie grinned as she held up a finger. 'It's quite simple really: she is a fangirl of you!' She stated as if it was obvious.

'Oh, bother.' Latias groaned, shaking her head at the young girl.

'Don't give me that, if Ash doesn't remember her then this is the best idea we have.' Bonnie said, glaring at the disguised dragoness. 'I bet you're worried that some fangirl will sweep him off his feet before you-' With that, she was instantly cut out.

Ash and Clemont looked on at the silent exchange between Latias and Bonnie as they glared at each other. Bonnie stuck her tongue out as Latias looked away, all the while Serena continued the look like they were the strangest people she had ever seen.

_What was that all about?_ Ash thought, staring at the two.

'Still, it's suspicious that someone would come just asking for you out of the blue.' Clemont pushed his glasses back up his face. 'Especially after only having Latias for around a week, she might have seen you with her.'

Ash shook his head. 'We took so many precautions, I doubt that anyone would have seen us.' They had made certain that Latias wouldn't have been found, only turning into her true form when it was absolutely certain. Still, there were moments like this morning where they had been in a rush, making it possible that they had been sloppy in some areas.

'It could still be a possibility,' Latias interjected. 'But, I think we should just ask her why she is looking for you, Ash. I couldn't sense anything bad from her, but I could try and sense if she is lying or not. I am not the best at it but it could be some good training for it.'

Ash nodded. 'But how exactly would you find that out?' He asked curiously.

'Subtle changes in mood and emotion.' Latias said with a smile. 'I have to focus really hard on it, but I can normally pick up on some small differences from when they tell the lie and when they aren't. Just ask away and I'll try and find out everything I can.'

He nodded once more. 'I'll do that, just be ready.' She gave him a thumbs up to which he returned.

Ash looked back over to Serena, who had the most confused and bewildered expression he had ever seen someone have. The trainer waved a hand which managed to bring the bemused look off her face. "You ok?"

"How did you do all of that?" She asked not missing a beat, looking around the table as if searching for something.

"Do what?"

"All the hand motions, you were talking about something but that wasn't any form of sign language!" She nearly shouted but managed to keep her voice level.

Ash was tempted to answer that it was their own personal form of sign language but he knew she wouldn't buy it. Instead, he decided to go with the truth. "Telepathy, it's something that psychic type Pokemon allows us to do."

Her mouth went into an "o" shape as she slowly moved her head up and down. She started glancing around but not in any particular spot. "Where is this psychic pokémon?"

"Uhh," Ash looked over at Latias who just shrugged her shoulders and smiled at him. "She is invisible right now, she doesn't like to be seen by people." He shifted his hat and glanced over at the disguised legendary who now appeared to be concentrating.

"So… why did you want to see me?" Ash asked, shifting the focus of the conversation. "If you wanted to see me cause I looked like someone that's fine, but is there anything else?"

The girl lowered her head nervously as she took in a deep breath. "I recognized you from the Garchomp incident about a week ago in Lumiose City, I saw you on the news trying to calm it down. I remembered how nice you were to me all those years ago, and right now I don't have anyone to fall back on for this… dilemma."

Clemont raised an eyebrow behind his glasses. "So you decide to put your trust in someone you haven't seen for...?"

A bright blush appeared on her. "Ten years." She answered meekly.

The inventor shot an unconvinced look over to Ash, clearly not believing her and the trainer wasn't sure how much he would trust the opinion of Bonnie when dealing with this.

However, Latias seemed to disagree with Clemont. 'She isn't lying.' The dragoness said with full confidence.

Ash questionably looked over at the dragoness. While he was tempted not to believe Serena as well, years of encountering Team Rocket and other evil teams had made him a little suspicious of people coming out of the blue, but Latias trusting her dampened that feeling considerably. Besides, they had neglected to ask what exactly the dilemma Serena was facing to come to him.

"So what exactly is it that you need help with?" Ash asked, looking into her blue irises. "Even if we did supposedly meet ten years ago how do you think you could still trust me now? Couldn't some other friend or your parents help you out with this?

"No!" Serena said, letting her normally quiet voice raise but lower quickly. "I mean, my mom can't help and all of my other friends have already left on journeys of their own. I need help with going out into the world on a Pokemon journey of my own. Right now, Ash, you are the only person that I know of that could help me. I felt that how you managed to calm down that rampaging Garchomp that you were the right person to ask."

Ash looked over at Latias for confirmation who only nodded in response. The trainer sighed and rubbed his temples, he had hoped that some part about this was a lie so he could make that excuse within himself but according to Latias it was all true. He didn't ever want to deny anyone's help, as if he felt that if he could help that person he wanted to try to do so to the best of his abilities. However, her arrival clashed with Latias' own, who had also not only requested his help but for her presence to be a secret, at least for now.

"So, do you think you could help me?"

Ash looked up at the blonde-haired girl seeing a fiery determination within her eyes, a want to do something, to accomplish something. He then looked over to Latias, who had held that same look in her eyes when she had first arrived, awaiting his response to her question. Then at Clemont who had also come to Ash for his own aid in his journey. Ash was so used to being mentored, never expecting that he himself would become a mentor.

The trainer looked up at the stars as if some sign from Arceus would come from them before coming right back to Serena and her expectant eyes. "Well look at the time, we all better head off to bed now don't we?"

"Huh?" They all said, staring at Ash.

Ash chuckled nervously under their gaze. "How about we all get a good night's sleep and I'll give you my answer tomorrow, Alright? Alright. Goodnight!" He quickly picked up Pikachu, who thankfully only gave a startled cry and not an electric shock, and sprinted off into the distance not waiting for any of the others to catch up.

His shoes hit the pavement rhythmically below him as he ran through the winding street of Santalune City. He moved around the corner of one of the many impressively designed stone structures and stopped to catch his breath on the empty road.

Pikachu hopped out of his arms and gave an annoyed glare at him. "Pika Pika!" He shouted as he raised up his small arms.

Ash gave him a tired sigh. "I know buddy, I know, sorry for disturbing your sleep, I just had to get out of there fast." He fell down with a groan and sat against the wall behind him. He buried his head in his knees, trying to think on everything that had just happened.

"Pika?" He asked with worry, walking over to his side and nuzzled his arm.

Ash looked over and started petting him, feeling the familiar touch of his short, staticy fur against his fingers. "I'm fine, just trying to work some things out in my head. Nothing to be too concerned with."

The electric mouse, however, did not accept this answer. "Pi pika." He gave Ash a knowing look, not letting him dodge around the question. The two had known each other for almost 6 years at this point, fighting battle after battle, participating in gym after gym, traveling through region after region. Out of all his friends and Pokemon he had stuck by his side the longest, never once leaving it for long.

Ash sighed once more. "Long story short, a girl from my past has shown up and wants me to help her along with her Pokemon journey because she has no one else to fall back on. Thing is, I could help her but I'm afraid of taking on too many people to mentor because she would make the third person that personally requested me on top of my pokémon."

The trainer relaxed as he took off his cap, feeling a small breeze in his hair. "I guess after all this time of being mentored it's a little bit of a struggle to mentor someone myself."

The electric moused looked up at him in confusion. "Pika Pi Pika Pika?"

Ash got the general idea of what Pikachu was talking about, but he still shook his head. "I just don't feel like I could leave her alone like that, she needs my help and I can give it to her. Even if I don't remember her much if at all it just doesn't feel right to me to leave her." He continued to absentmindedly pet his partner's head as he stared at the stars.

"Pika pi?"

The trainer looked down at him. "I guess I've always wanted to help people out no matter what, huh?" This whole situation sounded eerily similar to Latias' own, thinking about her brought a smile to his face.

Pikachu shook his head in mock disappointment. "Pika pika." He wagged a finger at him, hiding a grin on his face.

This time Ash didn't get what he was saying. "What do you mean by that?" He asked with some confusion. There were still common phrases that Pikachu said that he often couldn't pick up, mainly because he never understood the context to them.

'He's saying you're a little too kind' A voice called out in his mind.

Human and Pokemon turned to look over at Latias who was leaning near the corner of the building. Every part of her seemed to reflect brilliantly with the moonlight in Ash's eyes, making her appear almost beautiful. However, his staring was cut off by his need to blink as she returned to normal once he opened his eyes.

_That was… strange._

He closed his eyes and shook his head, he was probably just tired. He looked back up at the disguised dragoness, ignoring his partner's chuckles beside him. "How long have you been standing there?"

Latias shrugged her shoulders. 'Long enough I suppose.' She said as she sat down next to him, messing with her hair for a bit. 'Though for the record, I personally like how kind you are. It makes you, you.'

Ash felt a rare blush come at the compliment. "Really?"

The dragoness nodded her head, giving him a bright smile. 'You want to help me at any problem no matter how big or small, and it doesn't surprise me at all that you want to help out this Serena girl as well.'

"Yeah…" Ash put a hand to his mouth and yawned, feeling most of the day's energy spent. "Just trying to come to a consensus on this whole thing. Having her on our team would probably give us a new friend, but on the other hand, would she be able to keep your secret."

A giggle escaped Latias' mouth. 'If Bonnie can somehow manage to keep my secret then Serena can most definitely keep it, no question about that.'

Ash let out a laugh at the thought, with how reactionary and erratic the little girl was, it was a miracle that all of Kalos didn't know Latias was with them. "But would you be fine with her knowing though?" Ash asked.

The dragoness rolled her eyes. 'The question isn't whether I would like her on the team but if you would like her on the team.' Latias said as she pushed a finger on his chest, emphasizing the "you" portion of her speech. 'We are all along for the ride for your training, you decide who you want to bring or leave, doesn't matter to me. Though, I would appreciate it if you picked people that weren't mean and can keep my secret.' She added on quickly.

Ash nodded, grateful that she put that much trust in him. "But do you trust her?"

She tapped her chin with a finger, pondering on the question at hand. 'I'm not entirely sure yet, but from what I could gather, yes. Besides being a bit nervous she didn't tell a single lie throughout that whole thing, she was completely open and honest with us from what I could tell.'

"And the others?" Ash asked.

'About what you would expect.' Latias said shrugging. 'Clemont is apprehensive while Bonnie is more than ecstatic to let her join.' She seemed to grumble at the mention of Bonnie.

Ash nodded as he looked over at Pikachu curled up, attempting to sleep. "I'm surprised you are open to the idea of her joining right off the bat." He mused, taking his hand off the electric rodent. "You were really on edge about meeting Bonnie and Clemont."

'I guess having them around made me realize how much more fun it is.' Latias said, looking down at the ground. 'Having Serena on the team would almost double the number of people that would know my true form in a week. This is after nearly a century of living.'

"Huh." Ash threw his arms and yawned once more. "I'm tired, I'll have an answer on this tomorrow."

The legendary stood up and reached out with a hand. "Here, let me help you up."

Ash gladly took it, standing up on his own two feet and brushing off his blue jacket he smiled at Latias and muttered a small thanks. He turned around and picked up Pikachu, who in return gave an annoyed glance for disturbing his slumber. "Sorry buddy, we gotta get to the room and all." He placed the mouse on his shoulder as he said this.

A tired look passed over Ash and Latias as he looked at them. "Pi pika pik pikachu." He yawned with a wave of his yellow paw.

Ash raised an eyebrow in confusion at these words, he picked up most of it but not one. "Hey Tia, what did he say?" The trainer looked over at Latias.

Instead of seeing her completely fine he saw her entire face heating up, she was almost as red as a cherri berry. "Um, nothing important. Yes, nothing important, he's just tired and mumbling things." She rushed out, still bright red.

Laughing echoed down the empty street as Pikachu struggled to keep his balance on Ash's shoulder. Ash looked between the two not understand what exactly was going on. "What did he say? He was just asking if we finished doing something?"

He didn't think it was possible for her face to get any redder than it was right now but it did as she looked away from them. 'Goodnight, Ash, sleep well.' With that, she briskly walked away towards the Pokemon center.

Ash shrugged and walked after her, deciding to sleep rather than solve yet another mystery.

**0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0**

Latios just about wanted to slam his head against the wall and continue doing so until he couldn't process anything going on around him. Ever since Latias had disappeared about a week ago he had searched newspapers, websites, and just about anything he could find that might have had a clue as to her whereabouts, in the end, he had come up with nothing. On top of a murderer still at large, he had much bigger problems to worry about in his own city, but he was Here.

The Hall of Origins, where you would think the legendaries would gather to discuss world-changing events and how to better protect the world against the next catastrophe. Instead, it was the gathering place of a bunch of old dumb wits to argue with each other over who has a more important role within the universe.

His red irises glanced around the room, trying to find any distraction that could drown out the bickering between Groudon and Kyogre. The walls and floor were an endless stary void that somehow manifested itself physically so that you could walk upon it. The marble pillars and seat's brilliant white clashed greatly with the eternal darkness of the walls and floor. Each legendary had their own seat, designated at their birth rite. Only two seats were empty and were always empty: Arceus', who was still trapped after all this time, and Latias', who he spared her the burden of ever coming to these gatherings.

He sighed while looking over at her empty spot, her name forever carved into the white stone. He wished she was here, while she would greatly suffer, at least she would be safe.

"No, you overgrown Wailord! You have far too much space for your precious ocean!" A deep masculine voice roared.

"Learn your place you obese Tyranitar! Arceus created this world like this so deal with it!" A feminine voice shouted back.

"Maybe you can go a few millenniums without a vast majority of the space and see how you feel!"

The eon pokémon groaned, why did they have to be even louder?

Of all the things that were required for a legendary to do, it had to be to attend these meetings. Thankfully he managed to convince them not to enact "judgment" on them after Latias didn't attend a single meeting by saying they only needed one representative from Alto Mare. They probably only accepted it because they didn't see them as important in the overall scope of the world, after all, what's one city out on the water to someone who controls the sea that surrounds it?

Many of the legendaries that controlled a force of the world or universe were like this, haughty, full of themselves, and uncaring to anyone they deemed below them. There were a few exceptions, mainly Giratina, Rayquaza, and Xerneas, but they were outliers in that group. The major legendaries only allowed these fights and stuff like this to happen because this is how they act as well.

Many of the minor legendaries were much more humble, not truly understanding their powers and not being seen as important as the bigger, more powerful ones. They often trained with either each other or with a Pokemon trainer. He had tried to discreetly ask them if they had any new trainees to look for Latias, but to no avail. He was now leaning more towards the latter option, but who would train her?

"You're lucky I don't skewer you with my Precipice Blades!"

"You couldn't hit the ocean even if you tried to aim those things!"

Latios would personally shut them down but they wouldn't care, someone with more authority would have to do so.

"Enough you two!" A third, loud feminine voice entered.

The two colossal titans flinched at the voice as Latios silently blessed her. Giratina had stood up from being normally quiet and reserved, a now menacing glare within her scarlet eyes. She was in her altered form, clearly not pleased with the current situation at hand.

Latios was currently grinning at the ruler of the reverse world, they had finally broken her.

She rose up to tower over the land and sea titans, many of the other minor legendaries were starting to cower at her sudden burst of anger. "If you two are only going to continue bickering and flex your egos for the rest of your quote-unquote discussion then we are going to be done here, is that understood?"

"But-"

"I. Do. Not. Care." She growled, emphasizing each word with malice as an aura of energy began to radiate off of her. "You two bicker about the same thing each and every single time we have a meeting, claiming it's an 'important issue.' When in reality, it is just an excuse to brag and showboat your power to all of us over an issue that will never change. Arceus created this world how it was supposed to be made and if I catch one of you interfering with the other's territory I will personally trap you in the distortion world longer then you have been alive. Do I make myself clear?"

No response came as the hall went silent, no one speaking a word.

"Well?" She asked tauntingly, leaning closer to the two. "Or should I just put you both in the distortion world?"

The land and sea legendaries both shook their head.

"Does anyone else have a more important issue they would like to bring to the table." She asked, her eyes looking between the legendaries.

Latios was half tempted to bring up the issue of Latias but feared what they would all think if they thought he had lost her. He would just have to ask Giratina personally afterward.

Giratina sighed, the aura disappearing. "Then we have no use for this meeting, dismissed."

Many of the major legendaries got up and left through portals back to their home regions, none of them speaking a word. The remaining legendaries got up and did one of the two things Latios actually enjoyed here: socializing. Visits were rare between them and these meetings provided ample opportunity to relax for an hour or two. Lorenzo knew what he was doing, Latios was sure he wouldn't mind.

He was about to get up and go talk with some of them, perhaps Darkrai and Cresellia, until he made eye contact with Giratina and she gave him the look. His heart fluttered a bit at the look, socializing would have to wait, it was time for the second reason he was here.

Latios floated over his area in the hall, which was considerably smaller than some of the larger legendaries areas, and towards the awaiting Giratina. His heart rate quickened as he approached her, getting nervous at being the center of all her attention. Almost everyone only saw her hostile and menacing appearance, but he knew what hid behind those glowing red eyes.

The eon pokémon stopped in front of her, looking up at one of the rare kind smiles she gave. Before he could say anything she reached out with her shadowy wings and embraced him against her long neck. Latios, utterly embarrassed, realized he wasn't getting out of this and wrapped his claws and wings as far around her as they would go squeezing as tight as he could to show his affection for the renegade pokémon.

"I missed you." He heard Giratina say with a love reserved for him and him alone.

Latios blushed but smiled as he hugged her red and black underbelly. "I missed you too."

The two continued to hug each other in silence, simply enjoying the other's company.

It had been far too long since they had seen one another in Latios' opinion, only maybe meeting once a month had only made him miss Giratina even more, though he would never outwardly admit that. That combined with their respective jobs keeping them stuck in one area made them rarely meet outside of the meetings if ever. But, their similar situations brought a unique understanding and comfort between the two legendaries that they didn't quite share with anyone else.

If you had told him that he would have a very personal and intimate relationship with Giratina of all people four years ago he would have laughed. But, after Giratina had found the two ruffled, bruised, and bloody eon twins still huddled next to each other for warmth not even a day after being attacked, things had changed.

She stayed with him for a couple of days, allowing him to get an insight into the ruler of the Distortion World beyond her menacing exterior. He had grown to quite like her, and apparently, she had as well. Glossing over some details, a few months later after one of the meetings she posed the question of being her mate and, while initially baffled as to why she could choose him, happily said yes.

In this action making the perfect couple: the leader of a pantheon of gods and some guardian of a city on water.

Latios let go and attempted to budge out of Giratina's winged embrace, she let go albeit reluctantly. However, she still nuzzled the smaller dragon as he attempted to back away, he loved the attention and she knew that.

A deep rumbling sound came from the ruler of the reverse world, almost like a purr but from a giant dragoness. Latios smiled at her as his eyes glanced around the room to see if anyone was watching, and found Xerneas and Mew giving a knowing smirk in his direction

_Of course, those two would notice,_ Latios grumbled in his mind.

He loved her to death, but excessive cuddling in the middle of the Hall of Origins was a little overboard in his mind.

"You should come to visit me sometime!" Giratina said, her scarlet eyes full of mirth. "We can go on, what are those human things called, outings… gatherings…?"

Latios laughed at her trying to figure a human word. "You mean a date?"

The renegade pokémon happily nodded. "Yes!" She nearly shouted, catching the attention of a few more legendaries. "I can show you some stuff in the Distortion World."

"Like what?" Latios asked. He had seen the Distortion World before, it looked more like a mass of floating rocks. "I'm sure Alto Mare is a lot more interesting."

"First of all, I simply haven't shown you anything interesting yet." She said with a grin. "Second of all, how exactly would I fit anywhere in Alto Mare, and don't say the Secret Garden." He was trapped and she knew it.

The blue dragon sighed but smiled in the end. "You have me there."

"Besides." Giratina moved closer and gently nuzzled him with a cheek. "It'll only be for a few hours. If you can leave Alto Mare for these meetings you can spend a little time with me, hmm?"

Latios chuckled. "I think the difference being I have a loud, blubbery whale threatening me with the flooding of my city if I don't go."

Giratina gave him an evil grin. "Who says I won't do it? I am the evil renegade pokémon after all, locked away in the Distortion World by Arceus herself for my violence against those in the real world." She said in an overdramatic tone.

Latios laughed. "If anyone actually knew you, they would know that couldn't be more factually incorrect." Of all the misconceptions around legendaries, the ones around Giratina had to be the worst. "Everyone knows that you're a big softie that cuddles a certain eon Pokemon a little too much." He stated, pointing a claw at her.

"Well, from what I know this certain eon pokémon loves it. Doesn't he?." She nuzzled him once more before licking his whole face with her tongue.

Latios said nothing, simply floating there blushing like a madlati covered in saliva. She wasn't wrong.

"Just have Latias watch the Souldew, I'm sure she is perfectly capable of protecting it."

With those words, Latios' happy little world came crashing down around him. The ecstatic Giratina no longer registered to him as his thoughts drifted back to Latias, gone into the vast unknowns of the world.

The eon pokémon shook his head, he had to stay focused. "About Latias, Giratina, I…" He could barely finish the next few words as he leaned in. She leaned in as well, clearly curious about what he had to say. "Please don't tell anyone, but Latias is gone." His voice dropped to a barely audible whisper.

He could see Giratina about to explode with anger, as a look of pure righteous fury came over her eyes, a look reserved for those who wished to see the full, unbridled might of a creature who had seen the very creation of this planet. He quickly reached up with a claw and covered her mouth the best he could. "Shh! She wasn't taken! She simply left Alto Mare! She isn't in any real danger just don't collapse the Hall of Origins on us!" He hissed.

Her expression fell but the glare bore into the blue dragon. "And what caused her to leave and why haven't you told anyone?" Her playfulness was gone, replaced with a serious nature at the news of Latias.

Latios sighed and looked away. "She left because of me." He confessed, drooping down out of shame. "She wanted to train and I never gave that to her. I always thought that after the attack I could keep her safe, that she wouldn't have to go through what she went through again. But I just pushed her away and now she's gone."

The Distortion World Queen's glare softened up as she realized the pain he was going through. She sat upright, using her tail and bottom two legs for balance, leaving the other four open for a hug. Latios didn't care about any pride or anything of that sort, he simply floated into the hug.

Latios fought back the urge to cry. "I didn't want everyone to freak out but I didn't know who to go to for this."

Giratina gently stroked his back with a hoof, trying to comfort the dragon. "And that's why I'm your mate, so you can come to me with stuff like this." She whispered gently into his ears.

"But what am I supposed to do?" Latios asked in a raspy voice. "She's gone and it's all my fault!"

Giratina stayed silent for several seconds, thinking on the matter, before eventually starting to speak. "Think of your protecting of Latias a lot like me leading the other legendaries. As a leader, you are going to make mistakes, a lot of mistakes, but it's important to understand and learn from those mistakes. Did you get all of that?"

Latios nodded against her red and black underbelly.

"But at the same time, we cannot rule with an iron hoof and have whatever we want. Between us and who we are, leading there must be a balance achieved so that both parties are happy in the end. If one party sees it as unfair they may leave and cause disorder amongst everything, a lot like Latias leaving you." She squeezed him tighter against her.

"So I need to find a balance with Latias?" The blue dragon asked, looking up at Giratina.

She sighed, looking off into the distance. "Not always, sometimes no matter how hard you try they will still push you away until there is nothing you can do about it. But it is important that you try, or they may never come back. It's a lot like what happened with Yveltal all those years ago…" She trailed off with a distant look in her eyes.

Latios grew a curious look on his face. "What happened with Yveltal?" He had only heard stories about him, he never even knew if he was actually real.

She gave him a playful smirk. "That isn't a story for big blue babies, now is it?"

"W-What?" Latios stuttered, his face became bright red at the nickname.

"You heard me, my little Teddiursa." She hugged him tighter, causing him to struggle against it but he quickly deemed it futile. "Don't worry about that, worry about you and Latias."

"Alright," Latios muttered, hugging her back.

"Great! Now, how about those plans for-" Giratina stopped as she appeared to be concentrating before letting out a long, deep sigh. "I'm afraid we are going to have to cut this short, I need to head back and stabilize the Distortion World."

Latios frowned as she let go of the embrace and got up, of all the times now was when he wanted to just sit there and hug her. Only when the renegade pokémon had to leave did Latios truly understand how much he would miss her, her sweet voice, caring personality, and unending affection. He never thought about any of it until it was already too late, until she left for her home.

Latios floated up and nuzzled her face to which she happily returned with a purr. "Sorry if I am… difficult in showing my love."

Giratina gave him a smile. "Don't worry, I know you still love me just as much as I do you."

A portal opened up upon the floor, revealing the broken and ruined world that Giratina called home. Their red eyes connected once more, the two knowing just how long it may be before seeing each other again.

"Wait! One more thing!" The eon pokémon called out, flying in front of her. "Could you check and see if Latias is ok? And if she isn't, please bring her back, I don't want her to get hurt."

Giratina gave him a kind smile and nodded. "I will, especially for you." She turned around and stepped into the portal on the ground, transforming into her origin form in the process. "Goodbye Latios, until next time."

"Goodbye…" He waved to her with a claw as she dived down and flew further and further into the never-ending void. The portal eventually closed, leaving him cut off from her once more. Latios dipped his head and sighed, staring at where the portal once stood.

Latios wanted to believe that one day they wouldn't be separated like this, after every meeting being apart for who knows how long until the next one. It was their curse, but he would sit through a thousand of these legendary "discussions" just to be with her again. However, he still hoped that one day it wouldn't have to be like this, simply today was not that day.

Hearing hoofsteps, Latios turned to face it and found Xerneas next to him. She was tall though, almost as tall as Giratina, as she stared down at him she gave him a smirk he definitely didn't like to see.

Latios gave her an annoyed look. "What?" He asked.

"So you're her little Teddiursa?"

His face became bright red as she burst into laughter, barely able to contain herself. "Please stop." He grumbled, the last thing he needed was others teasing him about his relationship with Giratina.

Her giggles fell silent as she held up a black hoof. "My apologies, I wanted to thank Giratina for dealing with those hooligans, they had argued for far too long and overheard that. It seemed a little too funny not to mention."

"Apology accepted." He mumbled, turning back to the nonexistent portal.

"Don't worry, your secret is safe with me." She said, winking at the blue dragon. "Still, it's a miracle that it took this long for them to break her, I thought they would have done it to that poor girl long before you were even born."

Latios nodded, letting out a frustrated growl. "We shouldn't have meetings like this, they are pointless and just give all of us headaches!"

He felt a soothing hoof laid gently on his head, calming him down in a sense. "Patience young one, in due time you will understand why these must happen," Xerneas said, taking her hoof off of him.

"But why!" Latios shouted, glaring at her. "Why have a bunch of adult children argue in here when we could discuss more important things!"

"Because if we don't they will go on fights and ramages against each other if they do not deal with it here," Xerneas explained softly, sitting down next to the blue dragon. "These adult children have enough destructive power to wipe entire regions off the map and displace countless numbers of both humans and pokémon. We must make the simple sacrifice of listening to them so that others may not suffer a worse fate."

The glare disappeared off Latios' face as he relaxed. "I guess I never thought about it that way."

An understanding look came from the life pokémon. "Of course you wouldn't, you are still very young and very sheltered, Latios." She stood up and stepped in front of him. "You have to remember that many of us in this hall, including your mate, are far older and far wiser than you could ever be right now. There is no shame in coming to us for advice."

Latios nodded. "Alright."

"Arceus forbid you let your power get to your head, we've had too many occasions of us recklessly using our powers out in the open recently." Xerneas stopped where she was, her mind in deep thought. "I wonder…" She trailed off, not continuing the thought.

He looked up and gave her a confused look, nearly being blinded by the light reflecting off her majestic antlers. "Wonder what?"

Xerneas sighed, bowing her blue head in thought. "With everything that has happened recently, I fear not if but when we shall be punished for our recklessness."

Latios scowled. _Feels more like humanity should be punished more than anything_. He thought silently to himself, thinking back to Annie and Oakley. _Would have killed them myself if they hadn't been arrested._

She shook her head. "No matter, more likely than not a feeling that will pass. But that does remind me of something: your training, Latios. Both you and your sister's one hundredth hatching day is coming up."

"Uh, yeah, why is that so important." Latios tilted his head, he figured it was just a milestone to hit, not some actually special day.

She smiled at him. "I thought perhaps I could give both you and your sister some insight into your powers and teach you how to control them. Besides, it'll give me an excuse to get out of Kalos and see your sister, I haven't seen her since you two were little hatchlings and I gave you two your birthrights."

He pondered this for a minute. Latias would probably be back well before their hundredth hatching day and from what Giratina said he needed to find a balance with her. "Seems like a good idea." He replied

Xerneas smiled once more. "I guess I will see you two then. Now if you will excuse me I have to head back to Kalos and make sure everything is in order, I suggest you do the same. Do tell Latias I said hi" She turned and walked away, towards one of the many portals that aligned the walls.

He waved goodbye as he watched her enter through the portal to Kalos. With that, he floated back to the portal to Alto Mare.

Maybe everything will turn out alright in the end. He mused before flying through.

**0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0**

"So you are just going to let that girl swoop him off his feet without a fight!"

The dragoness simply narrowed her amber eyes at the human girl through the reflection in the mirror. Latias was trying to help brush Bonnie's hair in the bathroom mirror following last night's surprise meeting.

It seemed like everyone at this point was teasing or insisting her on any feelings for Ash, Pikachu's words haunting her the entire night. No matter how much she denied it, they wouldn't let up.

'How about you finish this up.' Latias said, shoving the brush into her hand with psychic. 'And I go away so we can drop this, ok?' She didn't wait for an answer as she quickly floated away from her.

"You can't escape true love, Latias!" Bonnie called back, starting to brush her hair. "It will find you and you will accept it whether you want it or not!"

Latias rolled her eyes at the girl and she blew a razzberry back. The eon dragoness had taken up the title as Bonnie's pseudo caretaker, courtesy of Clemont, since they slept in the same room. This all but guaranteed that Latias would spend most of her mornings with the young girl, at least in towns and cities, along with all of her antics to boot.

If she could give Bonnie one thing it would be that she was persistent. For only confessing her… conflicted feelings about Ash two days ago, the girl seemed to go on and on about fate, destiny, and whatever nonsense she could think up of. Latias knew that she only wanted to help but, in the end, Bonnie was too naive for her own good.

The legendary caught her reflection on a human-sized mirror at the other side of the room and floated over to it, inspecting herself. Nothing about her appearance was even remotely human, from her wings, to her claws, red and white downy feathers, long neck, and large amber irises. Down to the scar that ran along her body, it would be almost impossible for a human to look past all of it. However, she could appear to be human.

Glowing brightly before quickly fading away she appeared as what looked like a normal human girl. All the same features of what would make a human, masking any trace that made her a pokémon.

"Maybe… it could work?" She muttered, inspecting the illusion she cast around herself. A series of weak psychic barriers held it all together, giving both the appearance and feel that she was a human, but on the inside, she was still a pokémon. Besides, this illusion wasn't who she was, a false image to put around herself so she could hide from the rest of the world. Giving Ash that would be a disservice to him.

She shook her head and sighed. _Stop thinking about him like that!_

Looking back up she could still see it was mostly Bianca with only slight differences. Perhaps she could at least make this appearance her own.

Latias saw Bonnie walk up behind her and turned to face the human girl. She had a bright smile on her face and slung her small bag over her shoulder. "You gonna keep staring at yourself or are you ready to go."

She returned the smile. 'Ready as I'll ever be.'

After doing a quick check for anything they may have left in their room before leaving out into the hallway and entering the lobby of the Pokemon Center. The lobby itself was unsurprisingly empty of most people considering how early in the morning it was, but they shockingly found Ash, with Pikachu on his shoulder, sitting at one of the call screens at the right wall.

'What's he doing up so early?' Latias wondered, staring at him. Normally they would have to use all manner of forms to wake him up even remotely early, whether it was shoving, psychic, water, or Pikachu's favorite, shocking.

Ash picked up a pokéball from some device before pocketing it on his belt and standing up. He turned around and when he saw the two of them both he and his partner grinned and waved a hand at them. "You two are up early," Ash called out.

'You're one to talk.' Latias said, walking over with a grin of her own. 'How high did Pikachu set the voltage for you to be up at this hour?'

He chuckled while looking down and shaking his head. "He didn't have to shock me, I woke up all on my own." He stated with a bit of pride like it was somehow an accomplishment. "Had to get that old friend I was talking about to help out with your flight training, that and to think a bit more on Serena."

Latias nodded, understanding his reasoning, but before she could comment on it Bonnie decided to butt in. "So what did you think about her, Ash." She asked quickly. The disguised dragoness shot an evil look at her which she just smiled back.

The trainer lifted his head back up. "I'll tell you all about my decision later, I'll want everyone there because to be honest I just don't want to say it twice."

Pikachu rubbed his face, trying to wipe some apparent tiredness from his eyes. "Basically what he's saying is he is too lazy to give you a yes or no answer." He yawned while stretching out his limbs.

"What do you mean I'm lazy?" Ash growled, glaring at him.

The electric mouse looked over at Latias while pointing a paw at him. "Can you believe this guy? Putting false allegations under my name," He mockingly put an arm over his head in shock. "Preposterous!"

"I still understand you're insulting me, ya know!" Ash said as the trainer and Pokemon began to knock their heads against each other.

"What's wrong with those two?" Clemont asked from behind them as he walked up to Bonnie's side, adjusting the yellow collar on his blue jumpsuit.

'Those two are arguing like an old mated couple.' Latias explained, shrugging her shoulders. 'Ash has the hearing problems, Pikachu has the memory problems.' The three silently laughed while the "old couple" continued to glare at one another.

"Maybe Pikachu should be who you worry about instead of Serena," Bonnie said with a laugh.

Latias simply stared dead ahead and tripped the girl right off of her feet with psychic, not enough to go face-first into the ground but enough to fall into a sitting position with a rough thud. The girl glared up at her while she simply whistled innocently.

Clemont sighed. "You all are impossible." He muttered, shaking his head at inventor clapped his hands, snatching their attention away from their quarrels. "Now Ash, is there something you wanted to talk to us about?"

Ash paused, thinking a moment before speaking. "Well, yeah, but I wanted to wait for-"

"Wait wait wait!" A feminine voice called from the stairs as Serena before looking around in a panic and spotting them. She looked like she wasn't even awake for five minutes, while she was still neat she was a neat mess. "Sorry! I just heard you all and thought you were going to leave without me- I mean without telling me your answer." A nervous smile on her, she tried to make herself seem as presentable as possible.

"Well…" Ash began, now seemingly noticing all eyes were on him. "After thinking about it last night, I decided to welcome you onto the team." He reached out with a hand as he said this.

"Really?" She asked with an unsure tone. "You'll welcome me on?" The trainer nodded as Serena grasped his hand and shook it, her face beaming with excitement. "I won't be a burden on you all, I promise!"

Latias gave Serena a kind smile as she was a lot like her in some aspects, a nervous girl who set out into the world for help from an old friend. Now there was a plus one to their group, effectively doubling the number of friends who knew about her in a single week.

The dragoness could see Clemont was apprehensive but accepted Ash's decision. He adjusted the giant pack he somehow carried on his back and looked over at Serena. "Welcome aboard, Serena, we'll try to make sure your stay isn't miserable." he then turned to Ash. "So, where to next?"

He paused for a moment, rubbing the back of his head humming to himself. "Do you have a map of Kalos?" Clemont nodded, took out a roll of paper from one of his backpack's pockets and handed it to Ash.

As he unfurled it Latias looked over his shoulder to see what was on it. The map was simple, using basic bold colors to highlight the whole region. Many of the towns had individual markers over them, signaling anything important within the cities.

Ash studied it for a bit before coming to a conclusion. "I think we will head back up through Lumiose City and exit west and follow that road along the coast." He said, tracing the route with a finger. "It seems to have the least amount of gyms out of all of them, should give us ample time to train between each of the gyms before having to take them on." He rolled the map back up and handed it back to Clemont.

'Sounds like a great idea, Ash.' Latias telepathed to him, patting him on the back.

He smiled at the compliment. "Thanks, now it's just a matter of not getting lost along the way."

The disguised dragoness chuckled. 'Don't worry, I'll be there to fly us out of whatever forest you get us stuck in.'

The two laughed as they exited the pokémon center along with the rest of the party. Serena, of course, was giving a strange look at Ash's one-sided conversation, but she would soon find out so it didn't really matter much. Bonnie ran excitedly in front of the group while Clemont stayed behind, keeping a protective watch over her.

As strange as it would be to admit, this was like her new family. It was her weird, dysfunctional family that she knew at most a week and at the very least a few minutes, but in the end, they were people she felt she could fall back on. All her life she had been trapped in Alto Mare, this was simply something new and exciting.

She could only smile as they walked out of the outskirts of the city and onto their next adventure.

**0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0**

**That's a wrap, thank you all for getting to the end.**

**I had a lot of fun making this and giving the characters a small break after the big gym battle last chapter. The Hall of Origins scene wasn't supposed to be that long but the question of "what if Latios and Giratina smashed" got really carried away and all of that happened.**

**I would like to thank Mystical for correcting my terrible grammar and beta reading all of this.**

**Also, we managed to hit triple-digit favorites. Honestly is amazing how many of you like my ideas.**

**As always, review of what you liked and what you didn't like. Criticism is always appreciated. **

**Until next time, later.**

**EDIT: Sorry about the chapter being all scuffed on release, it was a coding error on 's end to my knowledge. I also added a line or two here and changed the pronoun of Latias' other trainer in a previous chapter so no one gets confused when he comes up.**


	8. An Unwelcome Introduction

Rising of a Guardian - An Unwelcome Introduction

"Speech."

'Telepathy.'

_Thoughts_

**So, you guys miss me? Important author's note at the bottom, it will detail where I've been and whatnot.**

**0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0**

Well, at least Latias was hoping that it was going to be the start of another adventure.

Instead Bonnie, in all of her young, youthful energy, decided to run far ahead of the group and managed to get herself lost within the maze of Santalune City's shops and cafes. This wouldn't have been too much of a problem but despite the early morning rays of the sun, the stone-paved streets were already bustling with shoppers and pedestrians. It would be nigh impossible to find the small girl amongst the ever-growing crowd.

The companions were currently putting their heads together as to where Bonnie went to. Latias had thought of going into her true form and flying invisibly until they found her, but the energetic girl's psychic signature was too unfamiliar for her to pinpoint out of a crowd such as this. Normally this would have been a concern to her, however, the intense readings of positive emotions did wonders to calm her nerves. It was a blissful feeling to be surrounded by such a happy and vibrant city, knowing that probably not a single soul would want to do anything to hurt their lost friend.

Still, Clemont looked about ready to tear the blonde hair right off of his head at his sister's antics. "Bonnie is really not proving herself to be very responsible right now. And to think she wants to take care of her own pokemon, she can barely take care of herself!" He blurted out in disbelief.

Latias gave the inventor a nervous smile and scratched the back of her disguise's head. She doubted that saying everyone around them having positive emotions would do anything to calm him down. 'I think she's just excited is all, besides, maybe she might actually be onto something.'

Ash pet Pikachu's soft yellow head and glanced at the disguised dragoness, a confused expression underneath that red hat of his. "What do you mean by that, Tia?" He asked, scanning the crowds for any trace of the girl's blonde hair.

'Well, ever since we arrived here in Santalune city we've either been attacked, been training, or fighting in a gym battle.' Latias explained, holding up a finger with a grin. 'I say we take a break and hang around here, I could even introduce myself to our very confused companion.'

They looked over at Serena who was currently shifting herself uncomfortably while they talked, trying to find some form of distraction while the group carried on conversing without her. She sat on a small bench outside of a hair salon, situating herself a small distance from everyone else.

'I think she feels a little left out.' A soft frown came across Latias, sympathizing with Serena's current predicament. She knew what it felt like to be left out, having been mostly mute around humans her whole life. She didn't want the fate of loneliness and separation to befall anyone in their party.

Clemont gave a quick nod in agreement. "I'm with Tia on this one, Ash. Both of your pokemon worked really hard yesterday in that gym battle, I think it is only fair we give them as much rest as they want." Clemont stated. "And we'll need to tell her about you know who eventually." He finished with a whisper, motioning over to their legendary guardian.

The dense trainer grumbled, clearly anxious to get back onto the road again. "I mean, we could do all of this while still traveling ya know." He countered weakly, not even sure if he had convinced himself.

'Come on Ash, It'll be fun.' Latias pleaded, clasping his tanned hands in her own pale ones. 'I'll work twice as hard at training tomorrow, I promise. Pretty please with a pecha berry on top?'

She gave her best Growlithe eyes towards her trainer, making her voice as sweet as honey to try and convince him. He struggled under that stare, her eyes fluttering for added effect. But after a moment of deliberation, he finally faltered.

"Alright. Alright. We can take a small break and stay here in the city for the day." He surrendered with a smile, putting up his hands in mock submission.

'Yes!' She cheered in their minds, practically jumping up and down at the prospect of exploring this new and foreign city.

Unbeknownst to Latias, their newest addition held a scowl filled with jealousy at the two of them interacting.

Clemont stretched his back, looking relieved at not having to do any more traveling for the time being. "That's all good and exciting but can we find Bonnie first?" He asked with a twinge of worry. "I'd rather not have her wandering around in the city all by herself."

Ash rubbed his chin thoughtfully for a second. "We probably should, I guess we can split up into two groups. That'll allow us to find her faster and-"

"I'll go with you, Ash!"

The group turned their attention once more over to Serena, who had now stood up with determination. However, now realizing that she was the center of attention, she quickly turned back into her nervous self with an added blush upon her face.

"Jeez, and I thought Latias was bad about wanting to get in your pants, Ash." Pikachu teased, elbowing his oblivious partner's head.

'Shut uppppp.' The red dragoness hissed into the electric mouse's mind to which he ignored. She desperately resisted the urge to throw the electric mouse off into a nearby plant, knowing full well that, in the end, it wouldn't silence him.

Serena fumbled with her red handbag, trying to find the words held by the tip of her tongue. "I-I just thought that we could use the time to catch up and see what has been going on in our lives since we last met." She attempted to explain, holding her head down. "Not trying to imply that it would be for anything else!" She finished quickly.

Ash tilted his head to the side, seeming as puzzled as a Slowpoke. "What?"

Clemont shook his head in frustration. "Look, it doesn't matter. I think we should split into me and Ash, along with you and Tia. Bonnie needs a more familiar face between me and Tia and Tia can explain some of the more…" He paused, trying to find the right words. "Interesting parts about our traveling party."

Serena opened her mouth to protest but quickly shut it, instead she nodded reluctantly. "So, do you have an idea where we could find your sister?"

Clemont waved his hand around aimlessly. "Just search near small stands and souvenirs, it doesn't take much to get her attention. Especially near tourist trap like areas. She is like a magnet to those places, along with her wallet." He muttered with a small chuckle.

An image of Bonnie being forcefully dragged against her will by magnets sent giggles through the eon guardian, silently laughing as the others tried to focus on finding the young girl.

"And we can meet up back here for breakfast once we are done," Ash exclaimed, rubbing his stomach like a hungry Munchlax.

'Ok, see you two soon!' Latias called out, reaching over to grab Serena's hand. 'Hurry up, we don't have all day!'

With that last statement, she finally included the new girl into the telepathic link for the first time and needless to say, she was shocked.

"Wait a second, you can taaaaaaaalk!" Serena tried to say as she was dragged off by the much stronger legendary pokemon. The girl held a hand onto her hat as they pushed through the crowds of shoppers and tourists, trying to put the pieces together of how this mute girl suddenly spoke out of nowhere.

All the while Latias couldn't wipe the dumb grin that had manifested itself on her face.

Revealing herself to new people out of the blue was starting to become a hobby of hers, one that a certain brother of hers back in Altomare certainly wouldn't approve of. It might have seemed strange to be so overjoyed at the simplest interaction of meeting someone new, but that was often robbed of her as she had to keep her identity hidden. Now that was still the case, however, now she had much more freedom over her own actions and who she could reveal herself to. To put it simply, she hadn't had the chance to make friends this fast and freely in her whole life.

Delving out of her thoughts, they ran for another minute or two. Pushing through the heavy crowd of humans as the dragoness continued pulling Serena along with her. The confusion that had once consumed the girl was replaced with a slight enjoyment as a small smirk tugged at the corner of her lips. Whether it was from the supposedly mute girl's explosive energy or some unknown that she never saw it didn't matter. All that mattered was she felt a little more comfortable around everyone else.

Deciding that they were far enough away from Ash and Clemont, she slowed down their pace and released her grip off of Serena. Latias figured they should try and get a little one on one away from anyone else that might try to butt into the conversation.

_Plus, I'm almost certain she only came over here to try and figure me out. _Latias thought to herself.

Turning around, the disguised legendary put her hands on her hips and faced Serena. Latias showed no signs of exhaustion from the all-out sprint, seeming more alive than ever before as she gave the girl a mirthful smile.

Serena was the exact opposite. She was hunched over, hands on her knees, and trying to catch her breath as a bead of sweat rolled down her chin. Her once straight and well-brushed hair was now a mess, strands of hair sticking out in every which way. Her cheeks were a bright, flustered pink while she struggled to pick herself up and calm her rushing heart.

"You know," She managed to get out in between a laugh. "If you wanted to kidnap me like that, dragging me into the middle of a park in broad daylight isn't exactly the best place to do it."

Latias shrugged her shoulders and took in the sights of the park while the young lady recovered. It was thankfully a little less crowded than the streets behind them, allowing them to move around undeterred without bumping into some random family or passerby. The smell of freshly cut grass hung in the air, the trees were neatly trimmed, and the many wild and domestic pokemon chattered about all throughout the park.

Serena finally recovered and exhaled. "Whew! I've never seen anyone run like that before, and with all the times I was chased down by Ryhorns I thought I was fast."

Latias held up a hand in apology. 'Sorry about that, I can get a little carried away with myself sometimes.'

Serena paused and looked over at the masked legendary strangely. "How are you doing that?" She inquired with interest.

The eon pokemon smiled innocently. 'I'm afraid you are going to have to elaborate.' She responded, holding her hands behind her back.

"The whole," Serena snapped her fingers repeatedly, trying to pinpoint what exactly it was. "You're talking in my head. I can hear a voice coming from inside my head and that voice is responding to everything I'm asking so it has to be you. Unless I'm going insane."

Latias smiled, the girl had figured it out fast, a lot faster than she had expected her to. Then again, she only had a very small range to test this theory, mainly a young child, a scientist, and the densest human you could find on this planet.

'Well, I can't comment on the insanity part.' She started, twirling her vibrant red hair. 'But yes, I have been using telepathy to communicate with you. I normally just stay mute so I don't freak people out.'

Serena nodded in understanding. "I see," She said, furrowing her brow. "Still, it's a little much for you to drag me away and reveal that's the interesting part of you."

The disguised dragoness crossed her arms and gave Serena a sly look. 'Am I being accused of lying?' She poked jokingly at her questioning.

Her face instantly turned as red as the legendary's feathers, blushing from embarrassment. "S-sorry!" She stuttered, looking down out of shame. "I think I set my expectations a little too high whenever Clemont said something interesting, I thought there would be something cooler besides just telepathy," Serena concluded with a frown. "Which is still cool by the way!" She quickly added on.

Latias giggled at the last statement, amused by how nervous she got over a little joke. 'Relax, it's fine. I know some humans and pokemon can already do it.' She turned serious and looked around, motioning Serena closer to which she complied. 'But you're not wrong, there's one other thing and you gotta keep it a secret. Alright?' She whispered in her mind, the two standing just barely inches apart.

Serena hesitated for a minute, unsure if she wanted to be let in on this deep, dark secret that Latias was hiding. "You promise this isn't anything bad?" She asked with some concern.

Latias held a hand over her heart. 'I swear on Altomare it isn't.' She promised.

Serena looked a bit confused at the statement but nevertheless accepted it. "We are going to be traveling together so I might as well learn as much as I can about you guys."

Latias gave her a grateful smile in return, filled with warmth and confidence that Serena trusted her. 'You see, I'm not actually a human.' She told her with some excitement. 'My true form is a pokemon, a legendary pokemon, but I mainly walk around like this in human settlements so I don't have to be in a pokeball all of the time.'

Serena looked her up and down in bewilderment, not even believing for a second that the human before her could be what she said. "You? A pokemon? And a legendary at that?" She said, her tone not betraying her disbelief.

'Mhmm.' Latias confirmed, nodding her head. 'I'd show but I don't think I really thought this through well enough." She said, gesturing to everyone else in the park walking around them.

Serena seemed like she didn't want to believe the disguised dragoness for even a second, yet that nagging thought in the back of her mind told her to believe this ludicrous claim. Did it simply add to the air of mystery surrounding this strange psychic girl? The sense of blind trust that Serena had formed for Latias? Or was that even relief that Latias saw on her face?

"Heh, that would certainly account for something interesting about you," Serena mumbled, shaking her head at trusting something so ridiculous. "If this is the case, do I have to like bow in your presence?" She wondered, chuckling at her comment.

Latias broke into a fit of giggles along with her. 'I'm sure other legendaries would love it if you did but I'd implore you not to. I'm certainly not worthy enough to have people bow down to me.' She explained with a wave of her hand.

The legendary paused for a moment, trying to figure out how she could prove her identity to Serena without transforming in front of tens and hundreds of people. Psychic powers were out of the equation, so was any form of pokespeech. Suddenly a light bulb went off in her head.

'I got it.' Latias called out ecstatically, grabbing onto Serena's shoulders with a grin.

Serena tried to ask what she was so happy about when Latias sent a psychic signal through her mind, flashing the true form of the red and white dragoness. She practically jumped out of her socks upon seeing the image.

Latias' face instantly became one of worry after she realized what she had done. 'Sorry! I forgot to warn you about that, it was my first time doing something like that so I honestly didn't even know if it would work.' She stated, taking her hands off of the spooked girl.

Serena calmed her racing heart and stared into Latias' amber eyes. "Was that… you?" She asked, not entirely sure of herself.

'Yep!' The dragoness replied chipperly. 'I managed to transmit an image of myself into your head. I bet you saw the resemblance between my human illusion and my true form, huh?'

Several clues allowed the keen of eye to figure out one too many similarities between the two forms for it to be a coincidence. Her amber colored eyes matched perfectly, the color scheme of her clothes and hair matched the pattern of her feathers, and even her ears were somewhat replicated by the two protrusions of hair.

The young lady nodded her head. "I guess you don't have much reason to lie to me anyway." She said more to herself. "Woah, so, what is your species called then? Is Tia even really your name or should I call you by your species name?" She asked with curiosity.

Latias bowed her body towards Serena. 'My true name and species name is Latias, a somewhat of a guardian of Altomare.' She answered with a bright smile. 'But preferably refer to me as Tia while I appear like a human, helps to decrease the odds of someone finding out who I really am.'

"Tia…" Serena repeated her name as if it reminded her of something. "Did you just take a name out of your true name and that's what you call yourself?"

This was one of the few times in her life where Latias genuinely didn't know what to say. 'Uh,' She gave finger guns towards the girl along with a goofy grin. 'yeaaaah?'

Serena gave her a deadpan stare. "Anyway." She continued, ignoring what the eon pokemon just did. "How come you are traveling with Ash? I would have thought you would be doing more important legendary things, like guarding this 'Altomare' of yours."

The disguised dragoness let out a sigh. 'This is going to be a long one. Here, let's go look for Bonnie and I'll tell you on the way. How about that?' Latias asked, eager to find Bonnie and begin their day of relaxation.

Serena gave her a thumbs up. "Sounds like a plan."

'Perfect!' Latias said, beginning to walk and motioning for the newcomer to follow her. 'So, it all started around four years ago with an attack on Altomare…'

**0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0**

Latias told Serena about everything that had happened. From the attack on Altomare, to her running away, to saving Ash from falling off Prism Tower, and finally her gym battle right here in Santalune City. All the while Serena gave the disguised legendary her full interest, staying silent and listening intently to every minute detail. Even with Latias practically telling her life story, they hadn't found a single trace of Clemont's missing sister.

"Wow," Serena said after the dragoness stopped speaking. "I'm surprised I am not the only one with a distant history with Ash seeking him out."

Latias shrugged her shoulders and wrapped an arm around Serena's shoulder. 'I guess that makes two of us, huh?' She replied with a toothy grin.

Serena let out a small laugh. "I guess so. Still, it is definitely a lot to take in, especially with the fact that you might be a legendary." She whispered with excitement.

Latias gave the girl a small side hug. 'Don't worry about it, just keep the secret safe and I'll handle all the rest.' She replied with kindness, removing her arm off Serena's shoulder.

The two stayed silent for a moment, taking in everything they had just said and learned. Latias let out a quiet sigh. She would admit that, without her haste, she probably could have chosen a better location to reveal everything but it would have to do for now. Bringing Serena out of the dark about her was her main goal to which she succeeded to some degree.

They continued walking for some time, it was already late in the morning and they're losing time fast. Latias sighed and tried searching for Bonnie's mind once more but found nothing, it was simply too busy to locate such an unfamiliar signature. All they would have to do is keep walking and hope they manage to catch a slight glimpse of her.

Something started to bug at her though. Latias had talked all about herself, her true form, and why she was here but… then she let out a gasp. Her new friend hadn't mentioned a single thing about herself.

The dragoness turned her attention towards Serena. 'Enough about me for now, what about yourself?' She asked with real interest. 'I've told you a lot about me, I think it is only fair you do the same about yourself.'

Serena sheepishly scratched her head, clearly a little embarrassed. "I don't think you would want to hear about my life. It is certainly a lot less interesting than saving a city from destruction and going on some grand adventure to become stronger." She said, bringing her attention towards the ground.

'Nonsense!' Latias responded, stepping in front of the young lady's path. 'We're not going anywhere until you tell me every last little detail!' She said, putting her foot down and standing like an impassable wall. 'I mean it!'

Serena looked up and, while she didn't show it, Latias could feel the happiness coming off of her. "Where to start…" She mumbled, readjusting the hat that sat atop her head. "I don't really have much to say, I was born and raised in Kalos my whole life. I went to school and have raced a few Ryhorns. I've only just now left on my own journey but I have no idea what it is I want to do and I've put my trust in some strangers who I only vaguely remember one from nearly a decade ago."

Latias slowly nodded her head and closed her eyes. 'I definitely understand the not knowing what you want to do part, I only committed to being a guardian of Altomare after living in the city for nearly a century.' She stated.

Serena instantly froze as one of her eyes twitched at the comment. "You are how many years old now?" She asked incredulously.

The legendary pokemon gave her a nervous smile and held up her hands. 'Let's not change the subject now, I- '

"Yeah, that one!"

Latias paused as she heard an all too familiar voice.

Turning around she saw a small blonde haired girl in a dark brown shirt, white skirt, and black leggings near a stand not even ten feet away from her. 'Bonnie! Where have you been?!' Latias cried out worryingly, forgetting all about the previous conversation and quickly closing the distance between the two, kneeling down to her height.

Bonnie had her hand stuck in her yellow purse as she looked at Latias with confusion. "What do you mean? I thought you guys were behind me the whole time?" She said naively.

Latias let out a relieved sigh, she was starting to get nervous after all this time that something had happened to her.

_At least now I know what Latios feels whenever I pull off something like that…_

"Excuse me madam, is this your child?" A deep, pompous voice asked from behind the stand.

Latias glanced up and saw the strangest looking trio she had ever seen. The first was light purple haired man wearing a quite fashionable black suit held a rose in between his teeth. The second was a woman with bright magenta pink hair that was somehow more vibrant than her own stood behind him, wearing a dress of the same color that seemed to be quite expensive. Last was a… Meowth… wearing a black suit similar to the man's. They stood behind a stand of what looked to be finely tailored hats and crafted jewelry, all exorbitantly priced to the tenth degree.

However, that wasn't what started ringing alarm bells in her head.

Their feelings and intentions felt the exact opposite of all the inhabitants of the city around them. A deep malice and greed clouded their minds as they eyed them not as friends but as prey. The mere presence of them sent shivers up Latias' spine as she brought Bonnie into a tight embrace, hoping to shield her from whatever these people wanted. Her scar felt like it burned, she had felt this same aura four years ago on that fateful day.

This wasn't her simple fear of bugs, no, this was a nightmare that had just come knocking at her door.

Bonnie struggled in her embrace. "What's wrong, Tia? I was just trying to buy something." She sounded more annoyed if anything at Latias' sudden and unexplained action.

Thankfully, Serena walked up and spoke for her. "No, she isn't our child." She said, crossing her arms. "We are her caretakers and we have been looking for her all morning."

"Ah excellent," The female replied, hiding her mockery expertly behind years of experience. "She was just about to purchase some of the finest wares in Kalos, perhaps you would be interested in some as well?" She asked, gesturing towards the items on display.

Serena paused and took a quick look at the items on display, narrowing her blue eyes skeptically. She studied the items intently, seeing small details that no one else would ever be able to point out without years of experience. "I would hardly call these hats 'fine.' I could find better quality in a Trubbish than I could with whatever these things are." She responded, her voice filled to the brim with sass.

The three scammers instantly lost their composure and yelled out of shock. They turned their backs to them and huddled around each other, out of earshot of the three girls.

Latias let go of Bonnie and stood up, pulling on Serena's arm. 'Serena, I think we need to go. Now!' She pleaded urgently, her heart starting to beat out of her chest at the nearby threat.

Serena held up a hand to silence her. "Hold on, I'm not going to let these people disrespect fashion just so they can try and make a quick buck out of it." She answered stubbornly, glaring at the three goons.

"The hats look perfectly fine to me, besides, those three said they were good," Bonnie stated as if it was obvious.

Serena rolled her blue eyes at the young girl. "Oh please, I've been tailoring clothes for years at this point. You could spot the poor quality of the thread from miles away, the sowing is far too spaced out, and there is clearly a plastic shell underneath it all. You could buy those hats for the price of a loaf of bread, certainly not what they are trying to charge you." She explained firmly, not stuttering over her words even once.

The three shopkeepers, if you could even call them that, turned back to face them with confident smirks. The Meowth stepped forwards and… spoke the human tongue? "I see you girls are very skeptical about our products." He spoke with a thick accent, surprisingly Bonnie and Serena didn't even question how he could speak. "But we are here to offer you a once and a lifetime opportunity of a one percent discount on any item of your choice. I'd act fast on this one if I were you!" He said as smoothly as a criminal.

Bonnie paused, trying to do math in her head that she didn't understand. "One percent doesn't sound like a lot…"

"It isn't," Serena growled, growing more and more agitated by the second. "If you'll excuse us, we will be taking our business elsewhere. Somewhere that happens to treat its customers with a little respect and dignity." She said, starting to walk away from the stand. "Come on girls, let's go."

Latias silently praised Arceus as she began dragging Bonnie away from the three scammers. She felt about ready to have a panic attack if she stayed around them any longer, her heart starting to calm down along with her breathing. The burning of her scar beginning to cool off its radiating heat.

The man scoffed, raising his head up in their direction. "Hmph, you twerpettes aren't even worth our time. We will be waiting for more respectful customers, unlike you, brats."

The red dragoness had hoped this would be the end of their interaction, but then the worst possible scenario happened.

"Tia! Serena!" Ash called out with a grin, running over to them. "I see you guys managed to find Bonnie, great job on that by the way." He said, giving them a thumbs up.

"Finally if you ask me," Pikachu grumbled atop his shoulder, clearly more happy that it was all over.

Clemont ran from behind Ash and took Bonnie out of Latias' grip, hugging her with relief on his face. "Bonnie, don't you ever try and run off like that again." He scolded, checking her over for any injuries. "You hear me?"

Bonnie groaned but accepted the hug. "Yes, brother. Even if it is your fault that you lost me in the first place." She teased, grinning from ear to ear.

Clemont simply gave a relieved sigh and a grateful smile. "I'm just glad that you are safe and sound." He said, letting go of the embrace.

Serena smiled at the sibling reunion. "Heh, it's nice seeing that those two have a happy relationship."

'It sure is.' Latias absentmindedly replied, trying to forget about the three scammers standing not too far away from them. Her face was still pale from the previous experience as she still inched herself away from the stand with every opportunity.

Ash walked over with a smile. "I see you two have finally introduced yourselves to one another, how did that go?" He asked.

Serena gave him a sweet smile in return. "I think it went pretty smoothly if you ask me." She replied. "But you must be a pretty strong trainer to have a pokemon like her on your team." She added on with a wink.

Ash let out an embarrassed laugh. "I highly doubt that, besides, Tia said she chose to be on my team. Isn't that right-" He stopped himself when he saw her, her face being as white as a sheet. "Tia, are you alright? You look like you've seen a ghost."

Latias' amber eyes betrayed her and glanced back at what had terrified her mere seconds ago. 'No, nothing is wrong.' She replied, unable to hide the nervousness in her voice. 'We should go eat some breakfast, yeah? Get away from here and back onto the road, I think I've had enough of Santalune City today.'

Serena raised an eyebrow at the comment. "Leave? Already? Weren't you the one to suggest we stay here for the rest of the day?" She asked, looking back over at the three goons. "What's with those three anyway? You were about ready to bolt out of here at the mere sight of them."

Pikachu looked over their heads at the stand. "Say, Ash, don't those three look familiar to you?"

Ash glanced up at his electric partner. "What do you mean buddy?" He asked, trying to piece together what Pikachu had just said.

'There's really no reason to dwell on this.' Latias said with a nervous laugh. 'We can just walk on out of here and forget about all of this, right?' Her failed attempt to pass this along was interrupted by Ash walking past her.

"Hey!" Ash yelled at the trio. "Who are you and what did you do to scare my friend so badly!"

Pikachu zapped his cheeks in response. "Yeah, you posh-looking weirdos!" He called out in his pokespeech.

Clemont ran up and nervously pulled back on Ash's shoulder. "Come on, Ash, no need to do anything rash here. I'm sure this is all a big misunderstanding, nothing to get worked up over."

Ash narrowed his hazel eyes further. "I'm not letting some weirdos scare Tia and just let them get away with it, they shouldn't be able to do that." He said with determination, continuing to walk forward.

"Oh, we can answer your questions."

The magenta haired woman reached down and flicked a small switch on the stand at the sight of Ash approaching them.

A claw reached out over the stand and snatched Pikachu right off of Ash's shoulder, carrying him off before Ash could even yell out of shock.

"Oh you have got to be kidding me!" Pikachu's frustrated voice came from off in the distance.

Smoke began to spew out of the stand, covering the street in a thick haze as people began panicking about what was happening. A large Meowth shaped balloon rose above the cloud of smoke, air rapidly filling it. Three figures stood inside its wicker basket, evil smirks held upon their faces.

"Prepare for trouble!" The woman began.

"And make it double!" The man beside her said.

"To protect the world from devastation!"

"To unite all people within our nation!"

"To denounce the evils of truth and love!"

"To extend our reach to the stars above!"

The woman threw off her posh exterior to reveal a sleek white uniform with an embroidered, blazing, scarlet letter "R". "It's Jessie!"

The light purple haired man tossed his own suit aside, revealing a uniform with the exact same description as his counterpart. "And James!"

"Team Rocket, blast off at the speed of light!"

"Surrender now or prepare to fight!"

"Meowth! that's right!"

After hearing the words "Team Rocket", all Latias could do was stare in horror. Team Rocket, the one consistency that haunted her nightmares since that fateful day four years ago, was here. That red "R" that was branded into her mind, that instilled her within her at even the mere mention of it. The team of crooks and criminals that had nearly wiped her, her brother, her family, her city right off the map.

She wanted to believe that she had forgotten about them, that they were no more. That they were simply nightmares and wouldn't ever be able to hurt her. Yet, what stood in front of her disproved this fact completely. Now they had kidnapped her best friend's pokemon and he had no legendary help this time. She knew that she had to stand up to her fears and fight, to push on and help Ash like she had done against that bug type gym.

But, she couldn't. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't move her legs forward. The thought of facing down these attempted murders terrified her down to her very core. To go against the same group that gave her the scar which burned in such an agonizing way froze her movements completely. All she could do was sit there and watch in the face of overwhelming darkness.

**0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0**

Ash gritted his teeth in frustration, glaring his eyes up at the crooks that had stolen Pikachu right underneath him for what seemed like the umpteenth time. The screams and panics of everyone around him at the sight of Team Rocket failed to do anything to help his concentration. He had thought he finally left them behind in Unova, but they were as persistent as they were stupid.

"Team Rocket! What are you doing here!" Ash yelled in annoyance, raising a fist up into the air. "Come down here and give me back Pikachu!"

Clemont stared up at the trio in shock. "D-did you just say Team Rocket? As in THE Team Rocket?"

"More like a fragment of them," Ash grumbled, already pulling a pokeball off of his belt.

James gave a cocky grin down towards them. "No, I don't think we will. We have your Pikachu secured safely up here while you are stuck down there, twerp." He said, gesturing towards a small, transparent box next to him.

Inside was Pikachu, who was unsuccessfully attempting to shock his way out of the box. Electric sparks were flying all throughout the inside, but none of them ever managed to escape or do any damage.

"So what do you think Pikachu is going to do for you?" Ash called out, wanting to buy time while he formulated a plan. "Bring back Team Rocket after its leader has already disbanded it?"

Jessie growled. "Of course he will! With the power this Pikachu has, the boss will be able to start up Team Rocket again no problem!"

Meowth glared at Ash. "Yeah, and we'll have the boss' favor in no time."

Ash rolled his eyes at Team Rocket's idiotic plan. To think that they thought that Pikachu was somehow going to single-handedly revive the whole gang was completely beyond him. He looked upon the still crowded, smoke covered streets. In what seemed to be the middle of it all sat Latias, flanked on both sides by Serena and Bonnie.

He could see that she was panicking, badly. Her eyes danced around with absolute fear in the situation. Her shaking seemed to never stop as she tried to compose herself in some way. However, what scared Ash the most was what had happened to her left forearm. It was now much larger, rounder, and a bright red with three long claws situated at the end of it. Her illusion was failing, her dragoness form was breaking through right in the middle of a bustling city.

The smoke would only be able to hide her for so long and who knows if some random passerby might have already seen her. If word of this got out, Ash's plans to keep her hidden and safe would all be for nothing. He knew it would be a group effort from all of them to lift the much heavier dragoness out of view, seeing as she was too scared to even get off of her own knees.

However, Team Rocket was already making their getaway with Pikachu. If they managed to escape he would have to divert a good amount of time to finding them and getting Pikachu back. Not only that but it would continue their persistence with wanting to steal Pikachu, feeling reinvigorated that they might have actually succeeded for once.

"Ash!" Clemont hissed underneath his breath. "We need to make a choice now!"

The more experienced trainer mentally cursed. As much as he hated to say it, Latias took priority over Pikachu for the time being. "Sorry buddy…" He muttered tossed the pokeball in his hand up into the air, releasing his newest addition to the team.

"Starpator!" The large bird like pokemon called out. Its brown and white feathers rustled through the wind as his red crest swayed gently. His sharp talons touched the ground as he struck a magnificent pose to face Team Rocket.

"Staraptor, I need you to distract Team Rocket for as long as possible. Don't let them get away under any circumstances!" Ash ordered, already running towards the still form of Latias.

Staraptor looked somewhat disappointed at his sudden departure but nodded and flew up to engage Team Rocket. Though without any direction or trainer to guide him it was a gamble for how long he would last. If he could hold Team Rocket out long enough for the police to arrive, it would probably be game over for them,

"Clemont we're getting Tia out of here. Now!" Ash called out as he threw out another pokeball, summoning Froakie to the battlefield. "Froakie, follow us!"

Upon seeing Ash running away, Team Rocket was dumbfounded.

"The twerp is running away?" James asked in confusion, his eyes scanning the ground for what could cause such a strange reaction.

"It's no matter," Jessie said dismissively. "Take out the twerp's pokemon so we can get out of here!" She ordered, pointing at Staraptor and pulling out a pokeball.

Ash and Clemont roughly pushed past several panicking people, earning several "Heys" in response. They ran up to the horrified Latias and kneeled down next to her, being shielded from Team Rocket's gaze through the thick white haze. Her bright red claw contrasted greatly with her human illusion yet at the same time blending with her human bicep perfectly.

Ash gently shook her shoulder, staring into her terrified golden eyes. "Latias." He called to her gently. "Latias!" He said once more, shaking her shoulder a little harder.

"It's no use," Serena told Ash, crouching down with him. "I don't know what happened or what caused **that** to occur." She said, gesturing towards her out of place claw. "But she won't respond to anything that I tell her."

Bonnie gently rubbed the disguised dragoness' back. "Please Latias, you're scaring me." She pleaded desperately. "What's wrong?"

Ash rubbed his temples in frustration, trying to concentrate amongst the increasingly growing chaos. "Guys, we have to get Latias out of here." He said, gathering their attention. "We'll all have to lift her at once and bring her to a safe place before her illusion fails. If we don't do that, this entire city is going to know of her existence by nightfall."

"But, why do all of us have to carry her?" Serena interjected. "Why couldn't Clemont carry her while we battle with those thieves that managed to steal your Pikachu?"

Clemont sighed. "Latias is a lot… heavier than one might think." He grimaced. "Her human illusion definitely hides the fact that she is an over two meter long legendary dragon."

Ash's eyes were blinded by a bright flash as Latias' right arm changed from a human arm to a dragon claw.

They were going to have to act fast.

"Froakie," Ash called out, addressing the small bubble frog pokemon. "We need you to protect us and use Smokescreen in case this haze goes away. We don't want to risk the chance of anyone spotting Latias, alright?"

"Froakie!" He croaked in response, giving Ash a small salute. His face was filled with determination, eager to help in any way he could.

Ash nodded and wrapped an arm under her shoulder. "We are going to get you out of here and away from Team Rocket, Latias. Just hang onto your disguise a little longer, ok?" He said in an attempt to reassure her.

Surprisingly, her erratic breathing calmed down, if only slightly. Her brilliant amber eyes being slowly brought back to reality for a fraction of a second.

Clemont and Serena each took a side of Latias, Bonnie being too short and too weak to really do much to help. Clemont could only hope and pray that they would manage to get her out of the streets without being seen. Serena had a look of wanting to prove herself, seeing this as her first opportunity to help the group as a whole. They were simply waiting for the signal from Ash.

Ash held up three fingers. "Three." He put a finger down. "Two." Another fell. "One." His hand closed into a fist. "Lift!" He ordered, straining his muscles as he attempted to lift the much heavier dragoness. Serena and Clemont attempted to lift her as well, managing to raise her to a point at which they could carry her.

"Come on guys, you can do it!." Bonnie called out, looking through the panicking crowd. "This way!"

They struggled at first, barely even able to move a few steps under the bulk of Latias' weight. However, they slowly gained momentum and started to slowly jog out of the smoke.

Ash held Latias' left paw to his chest, trying to keep it out of view from prying eyes. The claws tried to grip onto his shirt, searching for any form of comfort amongst the chaos.

Ash wasn't straining as much as he should have, being more used to long-distance traveling while carrying heavy backpacks. But, Serena and Clemont were visibly struggling as they continued their trek towards safer ground.

"Ash," Clemont began, groaning under the stress of lifting the legendary dragoness. "You are cutting down her diet the moment when we manage to get out of this mess!"

Ash chuckled, hoping that the inventor was trying to get some humor out of the situation. "I'll consider it, though I doubt I could stop her."

Bonnie continued carving a path forward for them as they tried to dodge the vying eyes of everyone around them. Anyone and everyone had a chance to get a little too suspicious and snap a picture of their cargo, ruining everything that they had worked so hard for. Soon they had fully escaped the white cloud of smoke, losing that bit of temporary cover that they so urgently needed.

Behind them, Ash could see the battle was going poorly in favor of Staraptor. Attacks were being thrown left and right at the struggling predator pokemon as he frantically weaved in and out of the paths of them. He tried to focus his eyes and saw Jessie's Servipor and Jame's Cacnea off in the distance, no doubt having them back due to the collapse of Team Rocket.

He would have sent out Noctowl to go support Staraptor and but them a little more time but they needed the extra bit of protection in case any trouble arose.

"Just hang in there, Staraptor. Help is on the way." Ash muttered, feeling guilty about leaving him to fight a battle alone. It had been over a year since he had last seen him and the first thing he did was send him into a battle with bad odds. He hoped that he would forgive him later.

Ash's turned around and his grip nearly slipped off her back, seeing someone spend a little too much attention on the group carrying Latias.

"Froakie, Smokescreen!" He ordered, not leaving it up to chance for her to be spotted.

Froakie instantly complied and spewed an opaque black fog out of his mouth, blinding not only themselves but everyone around them. They were running blind and out of options, someone was going to get suspicious if they saw them again.

"Break left guys!" Bonnie yelled through the smoke, going into a coughing fit as it was difficult to breathe through the thick smog

Ash put his faith in the young girl and pushed Clemont and Serena leftwards, praying and hoping that they wouldn't run straight into a wall or another person. Whether by the will of Arceus or simply luck, they ducked into a vacant alleyway with a turn at the end of it.

"Around there!" Ash pointed towards the bend. "Just a little further."

They turned the corner into a dead-end of the alleyway. Ash, Clemont, and Serena gently set Latias down up against the wall, being relieved that it was finally over. Two scarlet red wings had sprouted from her back, standing proud from the otherwise defeated dragoness. She hugged her knees, tears forming in the pits of her eyes as Serena and Bonnie moved next to her.

Ash was torn on what to do. Comfort Latias who seemed to be in a worse state than when he found her or help Staraptor rescue Pikachu from Team Rocket's evil clutches. The answer flew down from the sky above as Staraptor returned, bruised, battered, and beaten.

"Staraptor," Ash said to his trusty pokemon. "Did you get Pikachu?" He asked hopefully.

Staraptor raked his talons across the stone ground and shook his head, unable to look Ash in the eyes. His pride couldn't handle such a humiliating defeat and Ash knew it.

Ash sighed and walked over to the dejected predator pokemon. "It's nothing to beat yourself over buddy, we've blasted off Team Rocket more times than I can count." He told him, reassuringly petting his feathers. "We'll have Pikachu back by nightfall, and I'll pay you back for that rushed introduction soon."

"Staraptor." He cawed softly, nodding his head slowly.

Ash gave him a confidence filled smile. "Good! Now let's get you some rest, you've done enough with that battle for today." He held out his pokeball and pressed it softly onto his forehead, returning him for rest.

Staraptor disappeared in a bright red flash, returning back to his capsule home. Ash turned around and was instantly filled with compassion at the sight of Latias. Her form was weak and small, bordering the line between her human illusion and her true form. She seemed torn not only on the inside but on the outside as well.

Her red wings drooped down over her form as she buried her head into her dragoness claws. Tears streamed down her pale face, unable to cope with the reality of the nightmare she had just witnessed.

Ash put on a scowl and gripped his fist tightly. _I'll make them pay for scaring Latias like this._

The pokemon trainer shook his head and gave Latias a comforting smile, walking over to distressed dragoness and sitting down next to her. "Hey, Latias, those guys are away, there's nothing that you have to worry about now." He said.

A few sobs wracked Latias' body before looking up, tears tugging on the corners of her eyes. 'Where's Pikachu?' She asked softly in his mind. 'I can't feel his presence.'

Ash nervously rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah, he was taken by those goons." He answered, pushing some underlying doubts towards the back of his mind. "But I have dealt with these guys hundreds of times in the past so-"

He was interrupted by Latias continuing to cry once more. Ash didn't know what to do, he had told her the truth so why was she so sad about this? Serena and Bonnie both gave him a disappointed look, gesturing towards the dragoness.

"Reassure her better!" Bonnie whispered while Serena covered her mouth.

"It's a bit rude to say that in front of her," Serena told her, looking in pity at Latias.

Ash couldn't figure out how he should comfort Latias. He tried to pull upon past experiences and found one common thread between them all. He wrapped his arms around her back, one over her wings and one under, and pulled her into a firm hug. She let out a small gasp of surprise but returned the hug, digging her claws gently into his back as to not hurt him.

'I'm sorry.' She cried, rubbing her head into his neck. 'It's all my fault that Pikachu was kidnapped. I should have done something instead of standing there like some dumb dragon.' All of her sorrows spilling out onto Ash's lap.

"None of it was your fault, Latias." Ash began. "I knew the risks I would have to take by letting you on my team, none of us could have predicted nor prevented how you would have reacted by seeing Team Rocket again."

'But but but.'

Ash hugged her harder. "No buts, we all made choices and those are in the past. What matters now is rescuing Pikachu from Team Rocket before they manage to get too far away from here. Don't want to waste so much time on our day off, huh?"

Latias nodded, wiping a few tears away from her eyes. 'You're not mad at me, right?'

Ash shook his head. "I could never be mad at you. We all make mistakes but it'll never be anything to ever get mad at you or shame you."

"Yeah!" Bonnie butted in excitedly. "I doubt you could do anything worse than what I normally do." She said with a grin.

Clemont smirked at her sister's antics. "I mean, I don't think she's wrong there." He reaffirmed her statement, adjusting his glasses in the process.

Serena smiled at the legendary dragoness, going down onto her knees. "You seem way too nice anyways. I might have only known you for a few hours but you've certainly proved yourself to be extraordinarily kind."

Latias blushed at the compliment, not used to receiving this much praise. 'Thank you, all of you.' She replied, unsure of what to say.

Ash patted her on the back. "That's the spirit!" He said, separating from the hug which Latias pulled away, albeit with some reluctance, as well.

Clemont rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Do you have any idea how we could find these crooks? They escaped in a hot air balloon, not exactly something we can easily follow."

Ash grinned at Clemont's lack of knowledge. "I've dealt with these guys for years, they are very sloppy and easy to follow as long as you know what you are doing." He explained, removing his cap and dusting it off. "I can show you guys some of the ropes as we might run into them throughout our journey, but with the actual organization of Team Rocket gone and dead I doubt they will keep at it for long."

Ash stood up with determination. He had to be strong and be the leader this time. There was no gym leader to guide him, he had his own "students" to look after and he couldn't let Team Rocket come in and muck it all up. He wouldn't fail, he couldn't fail, not like he had in Unova. If he did, Pikachu would be lost and the team shattered apart.

**0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0**

**Hey guys, thanks for reading. Even if it has been *flips open calendar* like four months at this stage. I'll try to not disappear like that again but I won't promise anything.**

**Now, I left due to option C) or whatever it was. The story was starting to consume too much of my time and it was starting to affect my personal life so I put it on hold. But now everything has cleared up and if you want to get updates on how everything is going you can check my bio or PM me.**

**With all that out of the way, here's what I wanted to do with this chapter. I wanted to introduce Serena a bit without pulling her off into a secluded location and revealing Latias' true form so I think I managed that alright. I also wanted to get Team Rocket into the scene for Latias as it is one of her biggest fears and thus will hopefully reveal an important part about her character that will come next chapter. **

**Do tell me what you do or don't like about my writing. Reviews are very much appreciated and an account especially as I can respond to you directly. I want to create a good product and your reviews will be what does that.**

**Also, thanks y'all for all the support. We have almost reached two hundred followers which I can't thank y'all enough for. Seeing how you guys like the story and respond is like a third of why I do all of this.**

**That's all I have to say. It has been Guzma, I'll see you all next time.**


	9. The Realization

Rising of a Guardian - Chapter 9

"Speech."

'Telepathy.'

_Thoughts_

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Latias gritted her teeth in frustration at the rotating set of floating rocks before her. Each mound of Earth was surrounded by a faint, pink psychic glow as they clumsily moved around in a circle, out of sync of one another by a large margin. Her head pounded against her skull with pain, begging her to give it a break from the immense amount of stress. Noctowl had called this one of the most beginner psychic lessons he could think of; Latias preferred the thought of shoving it down his beak as the perfect exercise for her to try out.

Said Pokémon was currently walking beside her along the beaten path, watching the exercise carefully for any possible mistakes or slip-ups. Latias has thought of trying to somehow hide her mistakes but she knew that nothing would ever escape those keen scarlet eyes of his. Especially under the blinding shine of the mid-afternoon sun.

The brief, momentary thought about Noctowl caused her psychic grip to shift ever so slightly on the rocks. The stones grazed each other for the briefest of seconds, causing a dangerous growl to escape her lips as she could already feel the piercing gaze of her mentor. Latias tried to hastily rectify her mistake but she knew it was already too late.

"Focus, Latias." Noctowl warned, narrowing his eyes at the flash of anger upon the dragoness' face. "Do not become distracted with your own powers. The gym leader warned us about using yours in such a haphazard and careless manner, and surely you remember what you did to her poor battleground."

_Not be distracted? How could she not be distracted after what had just happened?_

Team Rocket had just attacked her after four years from nearly killing her, her brother, and everything that she held dear. Four years of nightmares, four years of waiting, four years of preparing to see them once again. She had thought that despite all of this that she would be ready for when she would inevitably encounter them once again. Yet, in the face of their oppressive shadow, she had become frozen with absolute fear.

Too dumbstruck to even realize what was happening, her muscles refused to budge no matter how much she screamed at them to move. It was as if that scarlet letter "R" had completely overpowered her and shut down all of her bodily functions. Not only that, but she had to be embarrassingly carried off to safety by her friends while Pikachu was being kidnapped.

Latias was the sole reason that Pikachu had been stolen from them, and none of them could deny it.

This one simple fact angered her beyond any reasonable measure. She had come on this journey to grow more powerful, to become the guardian that Alto Mare and her friends needed her to be. But she was too consumed with her own personal fears and anxieties to even use them when she needed them most.

Latias' wings curled at her tips in rage as her claws flexed out to their maximum length. Her entire body felt on edge as she could already see herself tearing through those goon's Pokémon, proving to Ash that she wasn't going to sit by like some wimpy first stage evolution. The rocks within her psychic grip began to crack under the immense pressure she was beginning to put on them with the images of violence.

"Latias…" Noctowl said precariously, giving the enraged dragoness an expression of worry.

One of the eon Pokémon's long, feathery ears twitched at the voice but chose to ignore it. Instead, she delved deeper into her own thoughts.

To think she could have been so stupid to even let Team Rocket attack them! Every conceivable sign was being shoved into her head to get as far away from them as physically possible. But what had she done? She said nothing and let Ash, the one person who trusted her the most, to waltz straight into their trap.

Now everyone in the group was probably looking at her like some massive child that'll break down at the first sight of a fight. Her previous accomplishments meant nothing. Her bravery at Alto Mare, the scar she had received, all meant nothing at the end as she continued to cower in the presence of Team Rocket. Her battle at Santalune City was void now that she wouldn't even use this newfound fighting ability. Her running away from everything she knew to train might as well have never happened if she couldn't stay away from home for even a week.

_I might as well just call home to Bianca and have her tell Latios to come and pick me up. Then I can have him hover over me for the rest of my existence and never leave the Secret Garden._

She bared her teeth, showing off her sharper fangs and canines. First, her brother wouldn't believe in her and soon her friends would quickly lose hope that she could ever be a guardian of Alto Mare.

The stones held within her grasp began to form large cracks upon their surface as her mind became fully consumed with rage and frustration.

Noctowl flapped his wings fearfully at the sight of Latias. "Latias! Drop the exercise, it's time for a break." He ordered quickly.

Latias didn't listen to him as all of her thoughts of anger and frustration were unleashed full force on the poor, defenseless rocks. The legendary power instantly crushed the rocks like tissue paper, turning the once rough exteriors into a fine powder as it sent out a small shock wave due to the sheer pressure. Gravity took hold as the dust fell to the ground, but not before a gentle wind sent it spinning into the air.

Latias stared at what she had just done in disbelief before letting out an exhausted sigh. She craned her neck down low to the ground, too tired to even pick herself up. Her head felt as if someone had gone full speed into her head with a gondola, the pain becoming all-encompassing as she desperately searched for some form of relief. Her breathing was hoarse and rash, like she had been traveling through a desert without water. The dragoness groaned as she stopped her flying and simply floated in place above the dirt road. Pulling from her legendary reserves had completely drained her of all her energy.

For how long she sat there she didn't know, but what Latias did know was the scent of fresh berries invading her nostrils. The enticing smell was enough to make her lunge out like a ravenous Snorlax, teeth gnashing as she scarfed down whatever food was in front of her. The multiple unique tastes of Oran berries, Leppa berries, and Pecha berries barely registered in the eon Pokémon's mind as she ran solely on her feral instincts.

With the last of the rejuvenating food gulped down her throat and her energy restored, she opened her amber eyes to the light of the serene world once more.

Only to come face to face with Noctowl, only centimeters away.

"AHHHHHHHHH!" Latias let out a startled scream as she flailed her arms about wildly, stumbling awkwardly onto her side.

Noctowl tilted his head to the side curiously at her reaction, mumbling something under his breath. "Are you ok?" He asked, carefully observing his student for any outward injuries. When she did not respond he let out a small grunt and folded his wing back over his body. "You had a large outburst of energy back there, didn't seem to take it very well so I brought you some berries."

Latias' wings flared up in agitation as she growled to herself, her cheeks becoming red with embarrassment. To think she had let herself be so controlled by her own anger. She glanced around and spotted everyone else several steps ahead of them, though they had now turned around at the sudden interruption of the dragoness' scream.

First was Clemont, who was trying to assess what had gone wrong with Latias to see if there was any reason for her outburst. Next was Serena and Bonnie, they had worry written all over their faces as they looked on at her, unsure of what they could do to help in the situation. The worst to see, and who she could barely look in the eyes, was Ash. His face was a whirlwind of emotions from distraught, confused, worried, angry, sad, relieved and probably a hundred others that she would never even be able to name.

Had she become so distracted by her own thoughts that she had forgotten about everyone around her?

"Latias!" Ash called out as he dropped what he was doing and broke into a full-on sprint towards her. Bonnie, seemingly snapping out of whatever trance she had put herself into, carried her smaller legs forward in a vain attempt to catch up with Ash.

The eon Pokémon held a claw over her heart, an intense feeling of warmth washed over her body at the sight of the two humans. She needed some form of comfort to get these thoughts of anger out of her mind, yet she could hardly pick her own head up as she looked down out of disgrace.

Noctowl held up one of his wings to stop Ash in his path. "I can assure you that I have the situation completely under control. Go back to tracking Team Rocket and I will have Latias back up in no- squawk!" He let out a shocked caw as Ash pushed through his winged barrier.

"Sorry, pal!" Ash apologized, continuing his dash towards the prone dragoness before sliding next to her form. Latias tried to fold her wings over her body to hide herself from view, but Ash gently moved a hand over to her paw and grabbed it reassuringly.

Noctowl rolled his eyes at his headstrong trainer. "Or you can just throw yourself into the conversation as well, that works perfectly fine." He muttered, folding his wings back against his body.

"Wait for me!" Bonnie cried out as she nearly jumped forward onto the much larger dragoness' belly. Latias let out a gasp of shock as the smaller human threw herself onto her, wrapping her tiny arms as far as they could around her back and nuzzling into the crux of her neck. "I told everyone that we should be with you but they said that you needed 'space' or whatever they were talking about." She said with disdain.

Latias forced a small smile to grace her lips at Bonnie's comment. She could never bring her heart to shove the young girl off of her stomach, so she begrudgingly accepted the hug.

Ash gently caressed one of her claws as Latias embraced Bonnie with the other. They stayed silent for a few moments, letting the red dragoness relax and calm down from her sudden outburst. "Latias," Ash started. "You have got to tell me what's going on with you. You seem like a completely different person ever since we left Santalune City. You've been barely talking to anyone, closed off in your own thoughts, and not acting like… like Latias."

When Ash finished his words all Latias could do was sit there in silence. Her heart was screaming at her to tell him what was wrong, to let out all of her repressed feelings of anger and frustration. However, the shame and despair of her defeat weighed too heavily on her mind.

Bonnie tightened her embrace around the dragoness' neck, digging into the nearly invisible feathers that coated her body. "You can tell us anything, Latias. I promise we won't judge you for it." She comforted.

Ash appeared to be connecting the dots in his head, then his brown eyes widened as a light bulb finally went off. He tilted his cap up and looked straight into her golden eyes. "This is about Pikachu being kidnapped, isn't it?" He inquired, already knowing the answer to his question.

The dragoness only nodded her head weakly. 'Yes, it is.' She whispered telepathically into their minds.

Latias already knew that they wouldn't be mad. Despite all of her thoughts, everyone was simply too nice to ever actually scold her for being weak or disappointing. Yet, her own pride told her that was the case. She had to prove herself to them for respect, no matter how much their supportive attitudes told her otherwise.

"Oh Latias," Ash said, giving her a genuine and sincere smile. "You don't need to worry about those guys, I already told you that I've dealt with them for years now at this point." He reached out and ran his fingers through one of her great, fluffy ears."Staraptor has probably found them at this point and is flying back to tell us all about it."

"Yeah!" Bonnie interjected ecstatically, shooting up from her belly. "Then we can all go in and beat those guys up for stealing Pikachu!" She exclaimed. The young girl made a few punches into the air, trying to show what she thought she was going to be doing.

Latias and Ash giggled at her enthusiasm, the dragoness finding just that small spark of happiness from her youthful vigor.

"I don't know about that," Ash explained, standing up and letting go of Latias' claw much to her disappointment. "I doubt Clemont will want to put you anywhere close to danger, and I'm not about to disagree with his opinions of safety concerning his own sister." The comment brought a frown to Bonnie's face.

"What do you mean I can't help you guys out!" She argued, stomping her foot down onto the ground. "I've helped out plenty with everything else, at least let me watch!" Latias let out a small sigh while shaking her head, she knew Clemont would not budge an inch on this.

The inventor walked over to the commotion and crossed his arms at his sister. "We're not bringing you along, Bonnie. Me and Ash have already come up with plans for how we are going to engage Team Rocket." Said trainer appeared to be making a hand motion for him to cut it off but he wasn't paying attention. "You will be staying with Latias whenever we make camp while we go out and rescue Pikachu."

The words echoed through her mind whenever he said this, over and over again like the incessant ticking of a watch. Her blood began to boil with anger once more, forgetting all the sadness and shame that she had felt just moments before. Flames danced within her eyes as she slowly floated over to the poor Ash who was cowering under her gaze. 'You were going to do WHAT WITH ME!' Her voice escalating as she screamed into his mind.

Her psychic voice radiated amongst the group, even managing to terrify a group of Fletchlings not too far away as they quickly flew out of their nest. Ash held up a hand as he regained some of his confidence, cautiously moving towards Latias. "There's no need to be angry about all of this Latias. I'm putting you off to the side for your own safety, not to antagonize you."

This only managed to further her anger as she growled at her human trainer. 'Yet you want to keep me out of the one battle to prove myself despite you saying multiple times how you can easily handle these criminals no problem!' She lashed out, draconic energy beginning to sizzle off of her claws.

Ash motioned Clemont and Serena back who had walked a bit forward to see what was going on between the eon pokémon and himself. "You wouldn't even be able to fight them, Latias." The pokémon trainer explained, bringing his full attention back to the dragoness. "I don't care how idiotic I think these crooks are, I'm not allowing any possibility for you to reveal yourself." He stood his ground against the legendary Pokémon despite the danger she was attempting to project.

Latias shoved her face into his, bringing them nose to nose in an attempt to intimidate the much smaller human into backing down. 'Then let me do something, anything! I'd rather sit there and watch then be a coward hunkering in the camp while everyone goes to fight my battles for me!' Her judgment was becoming cloudy like before.

"Ash!" Clemont called out, struggling to keep his glasses from falling off his face from fear. "Maybe we should let Latias watch to help her to get over her fear of Team Rocket faster?" He suggested as he struggled to tear his gaze away from her sharp, energy-fueled claws. Ash didn't respond, prompting to ignore the comment and focus solely on Latias.

"We can't have you panicking like that again, Latias." Ash countered, the determined and calm look in his eyes not faltering one bit. "We won't be able to help you if you fall out of the sky while we are battling Team Rocket. There's too much of a risk for them to see you."

Latias rolled her eyes at Ash. 'It was one time and they came out of nowhere, it'll just be like that one time with the bugs.' She snarled, pointing a claw into his chest and applying a slight amount of pressure. 'I just freak out the first time I see them then I'm completely fine afterward.' The eon Pokémon was fixed on getting what she wanted no matter what.

Bonnie stepped forward towards Ash. "Just let her do it! She'll never get over her fear if she doesn't fight against it anyway!" She exclaimed while exasperatedly throwing her hands into the air as if it was obvious. Clemont glared at his sister's intrusion into the argument, looking about ready to scold her once again.

Ash advanced, pushing Latias' head back slightly as her claw against him faltered. "There's a massive difference between a calm and organized battle where the only stakes are pride versus a rescue operations against a well known criminal organization that will stop at nothing to capture you." He stated, giving the dragoness a stern look. "Word of an untrained legendary can spread like wildfire in the criminal underworld, you have to be prepared to take them on!"

Latias felt tears forming in the pits of her amber orbs. 'You said you trusted me, that you trusted my own opinion and would let me do whatever I want.' Her voice was cracking as she said this, unable to hold in all of her pent up emotions. She flicked her claw back off Ash's chest and ignited it with draconic energy, making Clemont, Bonnie, and Serena flinch violently at the action. But not Ash. 'You were supposed to be different from my brother!' The eon pokémon practically screamed into his fragile mind.

The earth itself seemed to stand still as silence fell across the land. The rustling of the leaves, once so prevalent in the blowing breeze, had fallen deathly still. The calls of wild Pokémon had been long scared off by the enraged dragoness as she unleashed her fury amongst the group. A rumbling thunder up ahead broke through the everlasting silence, clouds of darkness consuming the rest of the sun's shining light. Thoughts of fear and panic were all around Latias, the only one standing up against her hatred was Ash.

Inside of him was a turbulent amount of emotions, yet he remained calm in the face of the ever-present danger. Serena crying out for Ash to not go closer while Clemont pulled out a pokéball in terror, yet Ash still dared to step forward. Latias continued shooting daggers out of her eyes, flaring up her wings and form to make herself as large and intimidating as a legendary should be, to wipe away any thoughts of coming closer to her. Ash continued his advance and, in the blink of an eye, he quickly reached out and clutched her razor-sharp Dragon Claw. The power instantly fizzling out as he made contact with it.

"I know you won't hurt me, Latias."

As the words left Ash's lips, she yanked her paw out of his grasp with the expectation that Ash would hold on. Yet, he simply let her go and continued to give her that calm and understanding gaze.

_Why did he have to be so right! _She shrieked within her own mind. _Can't you see that I need to do this? That I didn't come here to be babied like I was in Alto Mare?!_

Ash moved his hand towards her face and gently laid them on her cheeks, tilting her head towards himself. "I'm not doing this to hinder your training, Latias." He said softly. "I want to help you, I really do, but my number one priority has been to keep you safe and protected from harm. You entrusted that to me and I intend to keep that promise to you."

Latias stayed silent, angry tears rolling down her face as she stared into the sea of chocolate that was Ash's eyes. 'You promised to train me, to make me the most powerful legendary there ever was. Not to guard me.' She swatted away his hand, her scar beginning to ache with pain. 'And that's exactly what my brother told me, and look at where that has gotten me.' She finished, gesturing around her.

"I-" Latias didn't listen as she roughly pushed by Ash and continued down the road. Tears continued to roll down the dragoness' face as she feebly attempted to wipe them away with her claws.

Latias' whole body ached down to her very soul. It was a deep pit of emptiness and despair that she had dug herself into, unable to find a way to crawl out. She knew that Bonnie had run alongside her with Clemont calling her back, yet she had no response to the situation. Bonnie, Ash, and just about everything else seemed to fade away from her reality as she was left cold and alone.

The ice cold rain droplets barely registered in her mind while she floated aimlessly down the path. Darkness fell over the land as lighting zipped between the waves of darkness, thunder following not too shortly afterward. Bonnie's small arms gripped one of her loose claws tightly, another strike of lightning off in the distance as the winds from Lugia herself threatened to blow them over. However, none of this mattered to Latias.

For her journey to become a guardian of Alto Mare may have ended well before it had even began.

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Pikachu tapped his foot impatiently inside his makeshift prison with a scowl. The thudding of his foot echoed through the container, his sensitive ears becoming increasingly annoyed with the repetitive sound.

_Ya know, they really went all out in the space department with this cage. _He thought bitterly to himself.

He wished he could say that was the case, but the cage could be compared in size to the average cardboard box. The small, transparent cube barely allowed him to fully stand up on his hind legs. His ears continuously brushed up against the roof of the cage and it annoyed him way more than it should have. Some might think to sit down but that created new problems as he couldn't even stick his tiny feet out without bumping into the adjacent wall. His tail had nowhere to go so he was either forced to wrap it around himself or have the ever feeling of the prison pressing up against him.

So, he was forced to try position after position to make himself comfortable. Some poses actually worked a bit, but most tended to make him feel like he slept on a rock for eight days straight. He was half tempted to start beating the box with Iron Tail or shocking it till it hopefully opened. However, this seemed to agitate the electric mouse more than actually doing anything to the prison.

Pikachu finally rolled his eyes and sat down, bringing his knees up to his chest as he looked on at his trio of captors. _At least I have live entertainment with these hooligans. _A small smirk came about him as a half-hearted chuckle escaped his lips.

The three clowns that had managed to capture him, two humans and a Meowth that could speak the human tongue, were currently dancing around a campfire and singing praises to their precious boss. Their dance was ridiculous and their songs more so, but did they care? No. They acted like they had found all the pokédollars in the world with their cowardly heist. Each criminal had a look of exuberant joy on their faces, wrapping their arms around each other and laughing to their heart's content.

Pikachu hadn't bothered to look at where they were heading when he had been kidnapped. He had been slapping himself in the face one too many times for being fooled by the same exact trick Team Rocket had pulled a thousand times over. The terrified look on Latias' face should have told them everything, along with the poor disguises that Team Rocket wore in all of their schemes.

Perhaps this way just Arceus telling him and Ash to stop being so oblivious, but this was a minor annoyance if anything so it didn't matter much. He would just wait it out like he always had, have Ash rescue him and then blast Team Rocket only to see them once again. The eternal constant struggle in the universe between them. Yin and yang, push and pull, and whatever other universal struggles he could later come up with in his head.

Pikachu groaned, trying to find something to fill in the gap that boredom had created. There was no use in worrying at this point, Staraptor or Noctowl had probably already found him by this point. He already guessed in his mind what Ash was going to do to save him, even the most unpredictable of trainers could be predicted with enough time and patience. Shocking the box would only serve to make him tired, and he sure as hell didn't want to sleep in this thing.

So that left one thing for him to do: annoy Team Rocket.

"Hey, imbeciles!" Pikachu called out, bringing his paws close to his mouth as if it would amplify the sound. "At least be good hosts and give me some food for crying out loud!" He slapped the cage with a light Iron Tail for added effect.

His voice and the slight rattling of his prison seemed to grab their attention as they stopped dancing and looked over in his general direction. Somehow, the expressions on their faces didn't seem to put two and two together that it was their captive yellow mouse.

Pikachu rolled his eyes in an exaggerated manner. "Over here you piles of rocks!" He yelled, kicking the prison but instantly regretting it as cried out due to the pain. "Mother of Arceus!" He grumbled, holding his small foot due to the pain.

James pointed a finger at the currently suffering Pikachu. "I think the twerp's Pikachu wants to talk to us." He inquired.

Pikachu gritted his teeth. _Way to figure it out, genius!_

Meowth got an evil grin and jumped near his capsule, leaning against it while giving him the smuggest, most overconfident look he could. "What do you want, Pikachu? We got a big day ahead of ourselves when we personally deliver you to the big boss tomorrow, so make it quick." He spat in his thick accent.

The electric mouse stood up, ignoring the pain in his foot, and lightly sparked his cheeks at Meowth. "Fat chance you'll ever get even close to that happening. When I get out of here you can start Team Rocket's goal of stretching out to the stars by setting a base on the moon."

The brief thought of being blasted off once again sent a wave of fear through Meowth, however, he shook his head and banged on the transparent cage. "You're never getting out of this thing, shock and electric resistant glass coupled with rubber sealing means you are never leaving that thing with outside help." He replied smugly. Pikachu smirked and sent out a current of electricity through the box, making Meowth leap back out of shock.

"Stop humoring the twerp's pokémon!" Jessie ordered, walking over with the amount of sass someone of her age shouldn't have. "We've already caught him, no use in arguing with him until we deliver him to the big boss for his new orders." She said with a mischievous smile.

_New orders? _Pikachu snorted at the mere thought that he would listen to these goons. After all this time of trying to catch him, were they really so stupid as to believe he would simply obey every order they gave him? He would rather be possessed by the Red Orb again then listen to them, not that he would really enjoy it.

The yellow rodent shook his foot and stood up, slamming his two paws against the glass. "What makes you guys even think that I'll listen to you? If you bring me to your boss I'll just take all of you out myself!"

Meowth glared at Pikachu's defiance. "Oh, we have ways to make little rats like you listen." He replied, showing off his claws as an obvious threat towards him. "You started this whole mess with Team Rocket and you're going to fix it for us whether you like it or not."

Pikachu stared dumbfoundedly at him. "How is this my fault?!" He asked, pointing an accusing finger towards them. "It's not my fault that your criminal empire was filled with enough idiots whose asses could easily be kicked off the street by a ten year old!" He growled, bashing the cage with an Iron Tail once more.

Meowth became flustered as his two partners in crime looked on in confusion. "I don't care what you twerps can do or if it's your fault! You are still going to fix all of this!" He responded, growing more and more angry by the second.

Pikachu groaned and facepalmed at their plan. "So let me get this straight." He began in an exhausted voice. "Hypothetically, I get captured by you three and you guys managed to get me to work for your side, yeah? How for the love of Arceus am I going to single-handedly revive your collapsed criminal empire?"

Meowth did not respond.

"Maybe!" Pikachu continued with mockery. "I am going to go to your hardened criminal boss and he will just be so impressed by seeing this awesome Pikachu that he will revive Team Rocket. Thousands of former members will flock straight out of their prisons and regroup for the next big operation. After, of course, your big boss manages to recover the millions of pokédollars he lost during the many failed operations to try and capture legendary Pokémon with no reward." He finished, giving them a look of absolute, pure disbelief.

Meowth crossed his arms and turned his head away from Pikachu as if he wasn't worthy to see the cat's face. "It isn't the best plan, but at least it is a plan!" He spoke through his accent, his voice betraying the belief he had in his own plan.

Pikachu sighed, his ears down with pity as he held a calm hand against the glass. "Just give it up guys, Team Rocket is dead." He said, almost feeling a little sorry for them. "You've been chasing after me and Ash for five years now at this point, just go into retirement or whatever it is you humans do."

Meowth narrowed his eyes. "Go into retirement, what do you think we are? A bunch of normal people?" He asked dangerously as his two human companions nodded in agreement.

"Yes." Pikachu said bluntly. The trio had to get money for their equipment and robots somehow, and it certainly wasn't from any actual criminal activity or mischief. He was pretty sure that the three clowns could be excellent entrepreneurs if they actually put some time into it.

Jessie growled and shook her frizzled pink hair. "What sort of petty insults is the twerp's Pokémon trying to throw at us this time?!" She screamed, looking about ready to start shaking the small container and the poor Pokémon contained within.

"He's calling us a bunch of normal people!" Meowth exclaimed with a wave of his paw. "Pikachu here doesn't realize that he is looking at some of the baddest, most hardcore criminals that you can find on this planet. If anyone is gonna bring back Team Rocket, it is going to be us."

James raised a fist into the air excitedly. "Yeah, and that twerp will never be able to find us with the foolproof plan we pulled off back in the city!" He stated with confidence.

Pikachu looked up and was hoping the dark, cloudy sky above him would provide some sort of break from these fools blabbering. Low and behold, the familiar red crest of Staraptor stood out amongst the grey rain clouds, hovering a ways distance above them but his sharp bird eyes could hopefully see Pikachu easily. The electric mouse let out a small chuckle at the sight, finding the irony a little too convenient even for himself. Taking one last glance at the trio of goons, he shooed the predator pokémon away while they were distracted.

Staraptor nodded his head and folded his wings tightly up against his body, diving out of sight at mach speed before anyone dared to look up. Thunder rumbled off in the distance as a single drop of rain fell upon Pikachu's cage. The mouse's cheeks sparked in anticipation for the storm and, while the lighting was something he enjoyed, he knew most flying types hated it with a passion beyond anything on this Earth.

"Safe flying, bird brain." He muttered tiredly, sitting down as Team Rocket continued to ramble on and on about how great of criminals they were. Promptly ignoring that their actions didn't seem to really back this up.

Meowth raised an eyebrow at his hushed speaking. "What'd you say?" He asked, tapping his claw against the glass a few times.

Pikachu rubbed his paws on his temples, just wanting to sleep at this point. "I said you guys may be idiots but at least you are loyal idiots." He replied. "I bet Giovanni could throw you under Groudon himself and you would still follow his every order. Not that you would still be alive anyways."

The greedy cat didn't hesitate to pound his own chest twice with pride. "Team Rocket isn't kind and it certainly is rocky, but it's the only family we got." He responded, narrowing his eyelids. "I'm sure you would do anything for your family no matter how flawed it was. You and your twerp trainer should at least know that bit, if he was smart he would have given you up to us a long time ago." He said, turning around and walking off. "I'm done with ya, you're only making this situation worse for the both of us."

James kneeled down in front of the transparent box. "Heh, make yourself comfortable, rat." He said, cackling evilly as he innocently waved a hand. "It's going to be a long trip and it hasn't even begun yet." He and Jessie strolled away as they laughed to themselves at Pikachu's suffering.

The electric mouse let out a groan and rolled his eyes, getting sick of their ridiculous antics. He couldn't wait for their momentary success to crumble underneath their own feet. With the big organization of Team Rocket gone, they would slowly run out of supplies until one day, just maybe, they wouldn't be constantly attacking them. Being able to live a life carefree of them, without having to worry which shopkeeper was going to try and capture him or what robot was going to come tumbling out of the woods.

Pikachu knew how far away that day was, but he held onto the hope that one day they would give up. Despite knowing how sore he would be, he closed his eyes to get some shut eye and prepared himself for his inevitable rescue. With the brewing storm not too far away, it was almost certain that Team Rocket wouldn't be making any hasty departures anytime soon. They were dumb but they certainly weren't that dumb.

Pikachu could have been worried about more pressing matters but all he could think about was if his rescue would be more interesting than his capture.

**0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0**

The rain came down in torrential torrents against the soft cloth of their tent, battering against it like a thousand thrashing hands. Each gust of wind threatened to blow over the recklessly put together pegs as each blow became stronger than the last. Flashes of lightning briefly illuminated the outside skyline for a split second, only for the ear-deafening crash to follow milliseconds later as it struck somewhere nearby. The flashlight they had propped up was only providing just enough light in the cramped space for Ash to see what was going on his companion's faces.

Clemont and Serena shared the same look upon their features but for different reasons. Serena looked terrified at the lighting storm, each strike making her flinch violently as she cowered her brand new pokéball close to her chest. One of the few things she had neglected to tell them was her fear of lightning, it had made setting up the tent that much more difficult with one less hand to help them.

Clemont's azure eyes could only stare on in fear between the small crack of the tent that led to the outside world. His whole body was tense, his jumpsuit still soaked from the storm, and the constant tinkering with inventions was for once absent from his hands. Bonnie was out of his care, in the clutches of someone he seemed to trust less than Serena, who he had only known for less than a day.

Staraptor continuously shook and ruffled his feathers, trying to get the stray bits of water that had stuck themselves to his body on his return flight. He appeared more miffed than anything in Ash's eyes, his permanent scowl and constant mumbling indicated a sense of annoyance that had built up within him.

The predator pokémon had been the bearer of good news that they needed. He revealed that Team Rocket wasn't too far away and they had been grounded by the storm that was now battering at their shelter. All they had to do was travel a few more kilometers and they could camp out right underneath their noses. Ash couldn't have been more grateful for his work, he had been non-stop flying since the moment he was summoned out of his pokéball. He wanted to repay Staraptor in some way for his actions but nothing could ever come to his mind.

The globe trotter had hoped that this would have been the end of all their issues with going in, fighting Team Rocket, and making them blast off again. But that could not have been further from the truth.

Latias, alongside Bonnie, were missing from inside the safety of the tent. The two had taken it upon themselves in either an act of defiance or pure stubbornness to wait out in the rain while everyone else stayed dry. It had made both Ash and Clemont worried sick as the two were left with nothing but themselves to survive in the harsh cold night. Sure, Noctowl was out there but he highly doubted that they would use the owl pokémon as some sort of makeshift umbrella.

Clemont's leg shook anxiously as he continued to stare in the same exact spot, struggling to keep his glasses situated on his face. He did not seem to trust Latias at all after her argument with Ash, nor was he very pleased with the fact that Bonnie had decided to join alongside her.

Ash let out a sigh, the inventor had made it no secret how much he was displeased with the red dragoness being his younger sister's only form of protection. He knew the only way to rescue Pikachu tonight in this dreadful storm was to calm his terrors of Latias. There was no way Ash was going to bring Latias along with Bonnie on a mission against Team Rocket.

Ash reached over and gently tapped Clemont's shoulder, successfully grabbing his attention. "Latias isn't going to hurt Bonnie, Clemont." He said, making it short and honest. "I doubt she would ever hurt anyone of us out of malice, let alone her pseudo sibling."

Clemont rolled his eyes behind his glasses, turning his head to look out the crack in the tent once more. "Says the one who nearly got himself cleaved in two by the exact same legendary pokémon." He replied, gripping his fists tightly together.

"Latias isn't like that." Ash hissed, narrowing his eyes. "She has done plenty to help us out with training and taking care of Bonnie, that all can't be ruined based on one bad experience with her." The trainer felt a little insulted that Clemont would judge Latias based off of that. He had known the dragoness for four years, granted he had been away from her, but her character still stuck with him. To say she was now all of the sudden angry and rage-filled was borderline blasphemy.

Clemont gave Ash a sideways look, his posture becoming rigid like a machine. "And what if you didn't know who Latias was? What if the only opinions of her you had were strangers you've known a week and your sibling's safety was on the line?" He inquired not too pleased.

Ash's expression became one of hurt as he found the ground to be more favorable to look at. "Do you not trust me?" He asked, unsure if he wanted to hear the true answer. He had felt a level of trust build amongst everyone but did Clemont not feel the same way?

"It's not that, I just…" The inventor didn't know how to respond.

"Let's not try to get too heated about this, boys," Serena interjected, brushing her tangled, long blonde locks. "I think we should trust Ash on this matter, he hasn't failed us now on anything and he is the most experienced out of all of us." She stated, giving Ash a beaming smile along with a confident thumbs up.

Only the sound of the rain pattering against the tent was heard as silence overtook them. Clemont turned around and attempted to study every little detail about her. "You've barely been with us for a day and you're claiming that? I think I would have more knowledge of this matter than you would at this point." He claimed, slightly adjusting their light to better cover the rest of their shelter.

"But… you aren't denying it, are you?" She said, waving a finger as her soul slightly jumped out of her body from the roar of another strike of lighting. "And I would prefer to rescue Ash's Pokémon before this whole thing somehow gets worse!" She admitted through clenched teeth.

Clemont paused for a brief moment of deliberation, becoming as still as a statue. Ash prayed that the urgent situation of Pikachu would convince him to accept Latias and Noctowl to protect Bonnie while they were gone from the camp. At least Serena came to his defense, in the end, she must have really wanted to get out of this storm.

Serena let out a nervous laugh. "Uhh, two to one overruled?" She suggested with an unsure shrug of her shoulders.

The inventor seemed about ready to crack underneath the weight that burdened him. The ravaging storm outside doing little to quell his fears about his younger sibling's safety from the rain. Finally, he let out a groan of defeat and slouched down, closing his eyes and hung his head close to the ground.

"At least get Bonnie safe in the tent, we'll move as soon as you do that." He moaned, pulling out one of his pokéballs and checking over it's smooth, reflective surface. "After that we are rescuing Pikachu and getting back here as fast as we physically can. No exceptions."

Ash gave him a reassuring smile, greatly relieved that Clemont appeared to be fine with the decision. "Don't worry, I wouldn't trust anyone else with her safety than Latias." The trainer said in a vain attempt to dispel his terrors.

"Yeah, whatever," Clemont muttered under his breath. "Go talk with Latias, I'm sure she will listen to you more than me." He motioned a hand towards the exit of the tent, out into the raging torrent of the storm.

Ash nodded and stood up, walking over to the exit and pulling back the flap. He took in a deep breath and as he was about to leave he got an idea went off like a light bulb inside his head. He turned around to face their newest companion, stilling trying to get her frizzled hair under control.

"Hey, Serena, want to come with me?" He asked, motioning his head towards the outside world.

The young Kalosian girl looked with up with the excitement of someone half her age. She seemed about ready to jump up onto her feet to join alongside him, until a bolt of lighting struck barely ten meters out from their camp. She let out a shrill scream of terror and curled up into a ball, the sound of the lighting striking making Ash's ears ring as even he flinched slightly. She held her knees close to her chest and her chin atop her knees.

"Nope, nope, nope. I'm fine." She quickly got out, covering her hands over her ears.

Ash covered his mouth as a muffled laugh managed to barely leave it. How she would be able to survive on a team where his best friend often used thunderbolt out of nowhere would be beyond him. She was probably a strong enough girl to get over it… just like Latias was. But it would take some time, of course, they would all have to get stronger in order to face their fears eventually.

Reaching over and grabbing an umbrella from a pile tucked off into the corner of the tent, he stepped outside. Almost instantly the rain pounded against his clothes, skin, hair, and hat as it was relentless in its downpour. He struggled to unfurl the umbrella but managed to successfully, though still leaving him soaked head to toe as if he had jumped straight into the ocean. His brown eyes scanned the tree line before lying upon a red and white outline, standing out brightly amongst the muted and dark colors.

Latias only sat a few meters away from the tent, able to reach it in mere seconds if any trouble managed to arise. Lighting was the only source of light out here, briefly illuminating the clouds high above and the forest down below. The hundreds of trees, all of varying sizes and species, whipped their branches and leaves around in the violent gusts of the storm. Even the ancient and sturdy trunks swayed through the immense might of the wind. The rain drowned out any other sound, not the calls of wild Pokémon nor the rustling of leaves broke through the overpowering noise.

It was a raging storm of pure chaos, yet Latias seemed calm throughout it all. The whole scene felt even serene and peaceful. Not one part of the dragoness' body looked tense or on edge, her posture was very relaxed as her wings wrapped around a small form held within her grasp. Only a brief flash of lightning illuminated them which showed Bonnie's short, blonde hair. She was held in an almost motherly embrace from the legendary Pokémon, fast asleep in the disorder and anarchy of this force of nature.

Ash didn't know for how long he stared at the two of them but he quickly came to realize Latias' beautiful, golden eyes locked straight onto him. There was no anger and frustration like before, only a neutral gaze while she shifted her hold on the human in her clutches. Those seas of amber called out to him. They begged him to come closer and tell the Eon Pokémon what she so desperately needed to hear. However, Ash knew that he couldn't submit on his own position.

Protecting Latias was his goal, even if she wouldn't have liked it. He could never bring himself to see fear control her. Not like what happened at Alto Mare, not like what happened in the forest, and not like what had happened in Santalune City. She may hate him now but… she had to get stronger physically in order to face these fears. Right?

Taking in a deep breath and twirling the umbrella slightly, Ash slowly moved towards the red dragoness not too far away. His shoes squelching in the muddy grass barely registered to him as he became focused on Latias and Latias alone. He tried to think of what to say but nothing ever sounded good in his head. The trainer gulped, feeling a tightness in his throat, he was now standing barely even a meter away from her.

_Maybe she does really hate me. _Ash wondered, the dragoness staying completely still as the rain fell upon her soaked body. He noticed that Bonnie did not have a single drop on her, she was as dry as a desert. His nerves felt completely on edge, on fire, as his mind was trying to distract him from the topic at hand. _Why isn't she saying anything!_

The human trainer tried to loosen the collar of his jacket while straying his gaze away from her amber eyes. He wished this storm would just blow itself away, leaving just him and Latias instead of the unbearable noise of rain falling. _The rain… maybe he could start out with a comment about the weather… what was he thinking? It's quite obvious what the weather was!_

He paced a little in place before taking a deep breath, in and then out. _Just remember all the good times you had together, both in Alto Mare and in Kalos. _This thought calmed his nerves as he looked back at Latias, preparing to speak from his heart. Then, he opened his mouth to break the silence.

"You're wet."

…

…

...

_...What?_

Ash tried to have a neutral expression as Latias scanned him with a raised eyebrow. _Of all the things to say, I say that. _He was internally panicking. How was she supposed to react to a comment like that? How was he supposed to respond to her reaction to his comment? He had taken whatever seriousness was in the air, crumpled it up like tissue paper, and thrown it in the dumpster.

Latias blinked and Ash blinked. She blinked, he blinked. They both blinked.

Latias smiled.

Ash didn't know what else to do but smile as well.

Latias' smile grew wider.

So did Ash's grow as well.

Latias began to giggle, snickering with the kind of innocence that only she could have.

Ash followed suit, barely even able to contain his own chuckles.

Soon the dragoness and human were both bellowing with laughter as they wholeheartedly submitted themselves to the absurdity. They couldn't stop, they wouldn't stop as they both craned their necks back and continued to laugh and laugh. The tension between the two was sliced in half like a hot knife through butter.

Ash wiped away a few tears from his eyes as he struggled to hold himself, nearly dropping the umbrella when he moved to put a hand on his knee to support himself. Whether it was Latias that made him laugh or himself he didn't care, all that mattered was the two enjoying the moment. He looked up to see Latias giving him the dumbest grin he had ever seen anyone produce.

'Come over here and-' She said, struggling to form a coherent sentence. '-And give me the umbrella then you dork.' She got out in between a laugh, waving him over with a claw while still uncontrollably giggling to herself. Her body continued to rock itself with laughter, the girl on her chest somehow not waking up.

Ash obeyed the legendary Pokémon's demands and held the umbrella over her, shielding her from the harsh, unending rain. He collapsed next to her and sat down, not caring about the fact that the mud would horribly stain his pants. The two stayed there for a minute or two, still amusing themselves with Ash's out of nowhere comment.

"Hehe." Ash felt a shiver go down his spine as Latias laugh rang through his ears like an entire orchestra of musicians. 'Heh, you're wet?' She asked him telepathically. Ash felt himself blush as he sheepishly scratched the back of his head. The dragoness only continued to laugh. 'I mean, it's not the worst way to open up a conversation.'

"It was the first thing that came to mind." Ash admitted, snickering to himself while Latias nudged her head into the crux of his neck. It dampened his already wet skin as she continued to find a position that made herself the most comfortable. Despite how cold Latias felt, he was so unbelievably warm while he was in her presence.

'Well it is quite obvious that both of us are currently soaked.' The dragoness replied, her voice filling the air with mirth. She leaned her body against his, laying a paw across his chest. 'So is the appropriate response for me to say that you are wet as well? Or do I need to find some other obvious fact to point out?' She teased, tapping a claw against his chest softly.

Ash shook his head. "Nah, that's perfectly fine." He said. The trainer leaned back against the rough bark of the tree and let out a tired yawn. He had been up all morning and, with how much they had been traveling, he was exhausted.

Latias sighed a deep and longing sigh, breaking the silence as she looked up at his tanned face with despair. 'You're still not going to let me help you against Team Rocket, aren't you?' She asked, the tone in her voice signaling she already knowing the answer to her question. The human's smile faltered as his embarrassed blush faded into nothingness.

Ash eventually nodded, gently hugging the dragoness' head against his neck. "Yeah, we were planning to head out but Clemont wanted to get Bonnie back into the tent." The trainer whispered, trying to not wake up the sleeping child. "I was hoping that you along with Noctowl would watch her while we rescued Pikachu."

Latias averted her gaze from her human companion. 'So I'm being reduced to a babysitter now?' She grumbled, her ears flattening themselves against her head in sorrow. Ash wasn't sure if he was seeing water droplets still stuck against her cheeks or tears rolling down them from her eyes.

"I'm not gonna make you Bonnie's permanent babysitter." Ash stated, nudging her with a shoulder reassuringly. "First of all, I don't think Clemont would ever let me and secondly, I still have to train you and make you grow stronger. If you had to watch over Bonnie and keep her from trouble then you would never have time to practice your moves or skills." He finished with a laugh, wrapping an arm around her long, feathery neck and scratching behind one of her fluffy ears.

The eon Pokémon struggled against his embrace as Bonnie shifted in her sleep from all the movement. She soon fully submitted to Ash's pets, closing her eyes and leaving herself completely at his mercy. 'But I have to fight Team Rocket.' She moaned. 'You're taking away one of my best training opportunities yet, to fight against the organization that nearly killed me!'

Ash nodded his head in understanding. "I know, but there is a very fine line that I have to draw between protecting you and giving you new experiences." He explained, patting her head lightly. "If I hide you too much you don't get the experience you need, if I don't protect you enough you won't ever be able to have any new experiences again."

The legendary Pokémon continued to grumble and groan, mumbling something in her own tongue that Ash barely understood. 'And what if I don't want your protection?' She asked. Latias disappeared from view, turning invisible though the light struggled to bend around her rain-soaked body. The water somehow interfering with her invisibility. 'I could just follow alongside you and you would not have the faintest clue that I was there.'

Ash reached out with a hand and flicked her snout amusingly. She instantly recoiled and reappeared to his naked eye, playfully narrowing her eyes at him. "Because I know you won't," Ash responded truthfully.

Latias raised an eyebrow at the statement. 'What makes you so sure about that?' She asked, taking her head out from underneath his and looking directly into his eyes. Ash stared back, wanting to show that he meant every word he said.

"Because I know you trust me and that I trust you," Ash stated. "You've given me no reason to not and you came to me to train you. None of this would have ever happened if we didn't believe in one another. We would have never met, never saved Alto Mare, and never have ended up here."

The thunder continued to rumble and the rain continued to fall. Latias looked away for a few seconds in contemplation before gazing back into his coffee-colored eyes. 'And what if I don't listen to you? What happens then?'

Ash paused for a brief moment, scratching his arm absentmindedly. "If you don't, I trust that you will always make the right decision," Ash said, giving her a toothy grin. "I might not agree with it, your brother may think you are foolish but you always make the choice that benefits everyone in the long run."

Latias returned the grin, her bright white canines being illuminated by a distant strike of lightning. 'So taking that dumb little red hat off your head and claiming it as mine is for the greater good?' She asked teasingly into his mind, jokingly reaching out a claw towards his head.

Ash let out a chuckle and joyfully pushed it away. "It would certainly do wonders to up your cute factor." As he said this, the red dragoness' white face became as red as the scarlet that adorned her body. She floated quickly upwards, nearly dropping Bonnie's sleeping form in the process. Ash looked on, perplexed. "Is something wrong?"

Latias shook her head hastily, hugging Bonnie closer to her heart. 'No, just, we should probably head out now so that we- I mean you can rescue Pikachu and all that.' She said, the redness on her face still slowly creeping over her.

Ash shrugged, maybe she just gets embarrassed by compliments.

**0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0**

"Keep watch over everyone and keep the camp safe, Noctowl." Ash ordered, stepping out into the worsening storm. "We will be back before you know it."

Latias didn't know how Noctowl responded, only having a line of sight on Ash as the tent was closed off from the outside world. It had been a few minutes since her and Bonnie had "fallen asleep." Ash, Clemont, and Serena had all departed out to rescue Pikachu from Team Rocket's clutches, leaving the two pokémon and the child alone. Not much had been said, Latias simply announced that she was tired and promptly laid down next to Bonnie. The inventor did look like he wanted to say something, but, in the end, he kept his mouth shut.

Bonnie rustled in her embrace, slightly shaking the red dragoness' much larger form. "Are they gone yet?" She asked in a low whisper.

Latias peeked her eyes open and scanned the small tent's interior, only finding Noctowl shifting through the pages of a book with a claw. 'The coast is clear. Get up!'

"You kinda have to get up first!" She hissed, being stuck under the eon Pokémon's embrace. Latias complied and floated upwards, allowing the young girl to clamber to her feet in a hurry. She stretched her aching back and rubbed her tired eyes. "Do you know how hard it was to fake sleep for that long?"

Latias tilted her head to the side. 'Uh, no?' She said while Noctowl looked at the two incredulously.

"Well, it was hard." She answered, searching around the tent for whatever could be useful on their adventure. "And don't you dare think that I didn't overheard everything that was said between you and Ash!"

Latias rolled her eyes. 'Mention Ash calling me cute and I swear I will wipe any memories you have had today.' She threatened dangerously, narrowing her eyes at the young child.

"You can do that?" Bonnie asked with some surprise. Stopping her shifting as she haphazardly threw a bag to the side. Her blue eyes widening while she gazed back at the red dragoness.

'Y-yes!' Latias lied, horribly.

Bonnie blinked. "And why didn't you tell me about this until now?" She questioned, pulling out a large pink jacket and draping it over her shoulders.

"Uh," Latias paused, trying to come up with some sort of excuse. 'Cause every time I have told you about it, I erased your memory about it, stuff keeps getting in the way.' She answered, shifting her eyes away from the younger girl.

Bonnie's face contorted in thought while she fit her small arms through the sleeves of the coat. "Wait, have you been erasing all of our memories this whole time?"

The legendary Pokémon shrugged her claws, struggling to stop herself from laughing at Bonnie's innocence. 'I don't know, it's not like you would remember me doing it anyway.'

"Huh."

The sound of a book slamming shut reverberated throughout the tent. The human and legendary looked in its general direction, finding Noctowl squinting his eyes at them with disdain. "What are you two trying to go on about?" He inquired, standing up to his full height.

Latias straightened herself and focused in on the owl pokémon. She towered over the smaller shiny Pokemon, her head nearly brushing against the roof of the tent. Yet he continued to stand up, not cowering back like she had hoped. "We are going to go help Ash save Pikachu from Team Rocket while you are going to stay here and let us go." She responded, her eyes glowing with psychic energy.

Noctowl snorted, shaking his head in pure disbelief."You're plain idiots if you think that'll work." He spat. Latias' mentor turned back to his book without a second thought, all the while she was seething with rage.

"You wanna elaborate on that?" The dragoness snarled, lightning striking the outside of their tent close by. Bonnie seemed to sense the hostility between the mentor and trainee, reacting similarly to Latias.

Noctowl begrudgingly tore his gaze away from the book and back towards the legendary pokémon. "How do I put this," He started, pausing briefly. "You and the girl are the biggest fools I have ever seen if you think you can just confront Team Rocket again after what happened back in Santalune City."

Latias' ears shot up on alert. "I'm over this already! I can go and fight Team Rocket perfectly fine without becoming completely helpless!" She shouted, advancing towards Noctowl in an attempt to intimidate him.

"Are you ready?" Noctowl challenged, staying where he was. "Or is it that rage has consumed your mind to make you believe that you will be ready? Once that anger towards yourself has run its course you will collapse onto the ground as defenseless as a newborn Togepi."

The red dragoness shrunk back at the comment, her glowing eyes dimming down to show the fear hidden underneath. "N-no." She spoke, almost cowering down to the ground herself. "No." Her voice trickling down to barely a whisper.

"You will never be able to fight against Team Rocket if you do not manage to face this fear of yours." Noctowl replied simply, walking towards the nearly prone legendary pokémon. Latias looked at him with uncertainty, almost begging for answers.

"Then what do I do?" Latias asked with anguish. Tears were forming in the pits of her eyes as they slowly dripped down her already wet face. Her heart felt like a rock weighing her down, she struggled to barely hover a few inches above the ground. "How do I get over this fear that has haunted me for the past four years?" The eon pokémon threw herself to the ground, now pleading at his knees for any solution.

Noctowl ruffled his yellow feathers, not bothering to drop the disappointed look on his face. "You want to be a guardian, correct?" Noctowl inquired.

Latias nodded her head confidently at the mention of her goal, wiping away a few of her tears with a paw. "Yes."

"Then be brave."

Latias slowly rose up from the ground, her previous feelings of sadness wiped away in an instant. "What do you mean be brave? I've been brave!" She shouted, her breaths becoming more erratic and harsh by the second. "I didn't run away from my brother, my only family, just so you could yell at me for not being brave!'

Noctowl let out a sigh, hitting the ground with his talons repeatedly. "As a guardian, you are supposed to be strong, brave, courageous and just about everything that you are not." The eon pokémon growled, she wasn't sure if he was insulting her or not. "You react on impulse, never stopping to think about what your actions truly entail. Becoming a guardian is not only a physically demanding task but mentally as well, I bet you weren't thinking about that whenever you left your city."

Latias only continued to snarl as Noctowl continued. "You fumble in your confidence with your emotions. Being brave is all about doing the heroism that being a guardian entails while standing up to such impossible odds in the face of fear. You do not stand up to fear, you attempt to slap it aside only for it to come back at your harder than ever before. The false portrayal of confidence is what you hide behind, only for it to come crumbling down around you as your emotions betray you when you need them most." He finished, keeping his eternally neutral expression.

Latias sat there in utter silence. Every thought urged her to scream, yell, tell Noctowl that he was wrong. Yet, She couldn't. No matter how many times she opened her mouth to speak, no words came out. Her claws were lowered as they seemed heavier than ever before. Her red wings relaxed, and her ears lowered themselves against her head. She knew exactly why.

Every word of what Noctowl said was right.

Her mentor stepped forward. "You now see what I have been trying to tell you." It was more a statement than a question, but Latias still nodded her head. "Then you must stop and think about what it is you want to do. It might seem redundant, but truly delve into your mind and see what the root behind this all is."

Latias nodded once more. She inhaled slowly, trying to enjoy every bit of that sweet air before exhaling at the same rate. She closed her eyes, imagining images of home. Her brother, Bianca, Lorenzo, Ash, and Bonnie all came to mind, each memory filling her heart with a sense of lost warmth. With each smile, she felt her lips continue to tug at her corners just that little bit more. With each laugh, she felt a deep, hearty rumble roll through her throat. The eon pokémon felt at peace, her raw fury and determination having withered away.

First came the question of her goal: To become a guardian of Alto Mare. To prove herself to Latios, to the legendaries, to Ash that she could and would become stronger. Her paw traced over the exposed flesh of her scar, carefully moving along the base of her neck down to her underbelly. To show everyone that the sacrifice made at Alto Mare was not a fleeting moment of bravery but a true sign of her inner nature. And there was that word once again: bravery.

Her heart became wracked with fear as thoughts of that fateful night returned once more. She closed her eyes tightly, almost to the point of pain. Her heart started to beat out of her chest, the panic starting to overwhelm her. Images of the tsunami flashed in her mind, becoming bigger and more imposing as she went closer and closer. There was anger in her mind, at herself for not acting and sitting there while everyone else did the work for her. Yet, that anger was completely overwhelmed by the sheer terror she had experienced that night.

A gentle and soothing touch was laid over her right paw, the much smaller hands caressing it in a reassuring manner. Bonnie's dry skin was warm to the touch, soothing her freezing body as she pressed her face against the blue triangle on her chest. The young girl's arms wrapped around the freezing dragoness, unable to reach around fully but still squeezing Latias firmly. Bonnie probably didn't understand a word of their conversation but she certainly saw the distress on her face.

Latias wrapped two shaking paws around Bonnie's head, embracing her head against her heart. "I was so afraid." She whispered, carefully combing her claws through the girl's blonde hair. "Even when I was charging straight at that wave, I was terrified. I could barely look straight ahead, I was just waiting for the inevitable to happen." The eon pokémon opened her eyes and looked at Noctowl, seeing a grin somehow form on that beak of his.

"Congratulations, you figured it out." He stated, ruffling his yellow feathers. Latias expected some follow up explanation but he just turned around and walked off. He stopped at his book and flipped back over to a random page, seemingly without a care in the world. The dragoness blinked, that was it?

"What did I figure out?" Latias called back to him, gently putting Bonnie back onto the ground. She rubbed a feathery cheek against the young girl's face, gently tickling her as a fit of giggles escaped her mouth. She moved her head back up and floated towards Noctowl. It wasn't much distance to cover, barely even a few seconds later she was hovering a few inches from the reading owl pokémon.

Noctowl looked at her while still keeping his head down in his book. "I thought the answer seemed pretty obvious to you." He said, his scarlet eyes going back to tracing the words on his page. "You said verbatim what you had to do, go out and do that now." He waved a wing out to the exit, not bothering to shift his attention at all.

Latias shook her head slightly from shock. "To- to be afraid?" She asked, almost not believing it herself. "Why would I have to be afraid? The whole point of me being here was so that I wouldn't be afraid. Now I'm supposed to be scared… I… Did you see what happened to me this morning?" She molded her paws against her face as she let out a long groan.

"As I said before, you mistake your anger for your confidence." The tips of his crest nearly slapping Latias in the face as he finally picked his head up. "If you let your anger control you, your fear will come back tenfold as it completely immobilizes you. That is why you must go in with the knowledge of your situation that you will be afraid. You may cower in terror at the mere presence of Team Rocket but the point is that you try. Bravery is not about overcoming your fears, it is about facing them and still accomplishing what you set out to do."

Latias looked down out of shame, her gaze drifting towards the book on psychic training. "And what if I can't face my fears? What if every single time I collapse like I did back in the city? Alto Mare was life or death but here I have every chance to run and escape."

Noctowl's face contorted in thought, shutting his beak together tightly. "Ok, then I will give you two options: go and confront your fears with Team Rocket even with the knowledge that you may completely shut down, or leave Ash, this camp, and everything that you have trained so hard to achieve."

Those words sent Latias' head spinning in several directions. She had never agreed to anything like that and Ash almost certainly wouldn't either. "You can't just force me out of the group like that!" She exclaimed, narrowing her eyes at the owl pokémon as her nerves instantly became on edge. _What business did he have telling her where she could and could not be._

Noctowl raised an eyebrow as she said this, a curious look in his eyes. Surprisingly, he nodded his head like he agreed with her. "That is true, I suppose. But I can simply opt to not train you at all." He responded slyly. He gave the red dragoness an annoying smug look that she did not like at all.

Latias was now nervously tapping her claws together. This was something that none of them would force the stubborn owl Pokémon to do no matter how much they tried. "Y-you have to keep watch over me though, Ash ordered you to do so." The stuttering nor the nervousness in her voice didn't escape Noctowl as he smirked at her reply.

"Ash told me to both watch over you and keep guard at the camp. Now, if you happen to sneak out right underneath me, I cannot abandon my duties to protect the camp from any possible intruders." He plopped himself down onto the ground, giving Latias a look telling her exactly what he wanted her to do. "It's time for you to make a choice, Latias. Moonlight is running out and they are getting closer to rescuing Pikachu with every second we spend here talking."

Latias gulped, the feeling traveling all the way down her long throat. Noctowl had gone to distract himself with his book for one last time, she knew that no matter what he was not going to look back up. Every part of her body was conflicted on what to do. Her claws urged her to fight while her wings begged at her to flee. Her mind screamed at her that she would simply fall apart while her heart continued to push her out of the tent. She laid a paw over her heart, over her scar, feeling its beat through the exposed flesh. It was a steady, calm rhythm, fully prepared for whatever challenges it may have to face.

She knew what she had to do, it was only the question of if she would have the strength to do it.


End file.
